Vacant Horizon

my thing is also, i don't know what i like anymore. i find that i like the idea of a band (ie Magnolia Electric) more than i actually like the music or sound. also, i find i may like the sound of a band or artists, but do not find it compelling enough to listen through. i love the 'sound' of latter day wilco, but i just cannot get into that new album. now the stuff i have had a visceral reaction to, mostly classic rock, i'm so bored with. it's kind of a combination of things...too much new music out there, lack of really good music, music business changing, saturation, etc. it's just a tough time i think.

I understand pretty much all of you.

 

I went through a period not long ago where I couldn't get into anything but the box set Live Trane - The European Tours. It's all great, and by comparison, everything else sounded shallow, even silly ... I mean EVERYTHING: Wilco, the Beatles, the Stones ... EVERY THING.

 

I got out of that phase through sheer overexposure, but then I went through another period where I thought the iPod and iTunes had permanently ruined my attention span at age 44. I would listen to a song for about 65 seconds, then want to switch to something else. It doesn't help that I have over 14,000 songs on there to choose from!

 

Eventually, I've gotten back to listening to whole albums ... not constantly, but often. I'm buying CDs (mostly used), listening to them from start to finish to make sure there aren't any skips, and even playing older things in their entirety just to listen to them. Right now I'm playing all of Bowie's Low album on my iMac, an album I hadn't listened to in its entirety for years. And really enjoying it!

 

Things change, people change, tastes change ... hell, my response to some things I used to like changes. Maybe I don't like it as much, but maybe I like it more. Not to get too philosophical about it, but all of life is change, and that's okay.

yeah, the ipod has really caused me problems. i'm thinking about just buying cds again. at the same time, it's really up to me to listen to music the way i want to no matter what the format. if it's good and i allow myself to get into it, then it really doesnt matter what format, bit rate, etc. hell, i'll listen to the most transcoded shitty version of son volt's trace it that's all i had. it's the music that counts. now, Live Trane, is this coltrane?

Vinyl has been a godsend in this world of technology overload. It requires me to sit and listen to an album or at least a side. I may surf the net or read a mag sometimes then I find myself not really enjoying what i just heard. If I put away the laptop, turn down the lights and really listen, I often find albums that I've heard tens of times or more to be so much more fulfilling and entertaining. Some albums I'll only listen to this way, such as the Fleet Foxes or Iron and Wine's Shepherd's Dog. Realy helped me get int teh latest Wilco lp, to, which I've warmed up to some by really listening to what's going on.

i've thought about doing this, but i just don't have $ for it. also, as someone who is trying to own only what i need, i'm privy to digital music. that being said, i'm trying to put only a few albums on my ipod and listening to those intently as you said. we'll see if i can stick with it.

That's what they all say. But seriously, I hear you. I've been singing songs all my life and it annoys everyone around me. There's always a song in my heart. You don't have to actively listen to music for it to be there. It's just there. The visceral experience comes when you least expect it. As jaded as we all can become, one song can make us feel like a kid again. Keep listening. Talk hard.

yeah, feeling like a kid again! i'm actually loving that new green day song!

I feel what you're saying. I have many holes in my soul and music is a local anesthetic. I would think that your avatar would have some answers. Music has been the only thing so far that has made it all worthwhile for me, but I have my doubts. There are people who live beautiful lives without ever being music snobs.

this is really getting philosphical my metaphor about souls, was really just that, a metaphor. i dont really believe in souls, just lamenting the fact that i don't get many visceral reactions to music these days. me and the kids enjoy classic rock on the radio. at the house, we can't usually stand music in addition to the din of animals and children. when i'm hanging out it's just solo guitar or jazz. i listen to my ipod about 30 minutes a day, and that's when i really listen to music and try to get into stuff, etc. life's just different now and that's okay. music is just not he same for me. leaving it alone for a while may bring some spark back:)

I miss the good old days when you could turn on the radio and hear new music, not that you can't do that now I suppose, but so much of of what gets played on the radio sucks. I guess it sucks getting old, I dunno. I continue to buy lots of recorded music (never download) and don't listen to it as fast as I buy it.

 

I mean I bought a copy of St. Vincent at Pitchfork and have listened to it a couple times and keep thinking....Is this good or is it just mediocre and is this the best there is or what??

 

Tbere was an excellent article in the New Yorker last week about the the music biz and tickets and stuff and the point was made that artists now have to make money touring, not like in the old days when they made money on records. Really sad. The minute Wilco stops touring people are gonna forget about them entirely. I guess that is why they have to tour so relentlessly.

 

LouieB

is this good, or just the best there is? my sentiments exactly.

thanks so much for the replies everyone. i go back and forth with wilco, but i stick with this board b/c there are real music lovers here. i knew some of y'all would be able to relate to my original post.

the other issue for me is thinking i have to be a completist. that is a dangerous road, especially when we're talking prolific artists like zappa or dylan. emusic has been deadly. i've spent so much money there trying to get into other genres etc. only to just delete everything, then go back and re-download. my wife is always asking me what genre i'm into this week. it's like music has become this thing i hope will fill up the holes in my soul, but the reality is that it's as fleeting as anything else. right now, i don't know what i like at all! i've tried with DBT, Dylan, Waits, different jazz, etc. some of it's listenable and most is meh. damn, i wish i could here stairway again for the first time. at the same time, i think i need to give up this search for something that's gonna blow my mind and listen to what i have. also, i need to take a break from buying and downloading music. it's gotta be something i really really want, like neil young archives II.

thanks again for your thoughts. look forward to more.

interesting how y'all have mentioned ipods. this has been a big part of my issue. i got this huge 30gb 3 years ago and it's only caused me headaches. i'm constantly changing what's on there looking for the that elusive, perfect set of songs. i'm thinking about totally going back to cds to just get into albums again and not just listening to everything randomly.

i'll never stop listening to music. over the last few years however, with the advent of torrents etc., i've been a fiend. quantity over quailty. i've searching for that elusive visceral reaction to music i used get. you know, when the drums come in on stairway or cliffs of dover comes on the radio. but it's gone. i've either grown out of it or i'm just tired of it. i just listen to half way decent stuff these days...but nothing seems AMAZING anymore. part of me just wants to put Eno on a continuous loop around the house and be done with it. anyone getting me here? how do you listen to music?

From Bruce Springsteen.net:

 

 

 

That seems to be the thing to do now, along with bands doing cover albums. At least he hasn't done one of those. Still, I'd love to hear Meeting Across The River.

i know it's a bit cliche, but when i saw them do BTR, the song, last april in atlanta, it was incredible!

btw, been enjoying tunnel of love lately. very strong songs.

8/11 - Totota Park was pretty awesome. Lot of great stuff. So happy to hear a Chalkdust and a Hood. I really dug The Curtain With. Loving Cup closer was rad as hell too.

 

I didn't get my Runaway Jim opener I'd really been hoping for though.

 

I really like some of the new songs - Kill Devil Falls, Ocelot, Backwards Down the Number Line. I'm warming up to Time Turns Elastic.

i would have never guessed you liked runaway jim...mmmm?

incidently, i too love a nice, long Runaway Jim!

is this an official release?

found it. i wonder if that new dbt live disc is gonna be on itunes/amazon. it sounds amazing!

Patterson Hood & The Screwtopians Daytrotter Sessions

 

Gotta love the cover of "All the Girls Love Alice."

is this an official release?

did this leak yet?

It's been stated before, but it bears repeating, the official release of Old Ways is fucking horrible. I'll defer to a lyric from the latest "lazy" offering from Jay Farrar to describe it.... "so much promise with so much pain."

using jay to critique neil...very interesting...i like it.

old ways had potential, it's just so cheesed up. i do love the song My Boy as i have two sons. if i had to pick one, Everybody's rockin is the worst neil album. nothing redeemable at all. unlistenable. all the other ones i can find something to listen to...even landing on water. that one is so bad it's utterly compelling.

I've never heard it, but I have always heard it was pretty bad. Isn't there a chapter or at least some talk of Toast in the Shakey book?

no talk of toast in shakey. it ends at 2000 basically. there really needs to be an updated revised version with takes on greendale etc.

Old Ways I, Time Fades Away II, Human Highway (if it was even finished), and possibly the legendary Brigg's version of Tonight's the Night?

yeah, old ways I is what i am really looking forward to. depression blues on lucky thirteen is so good. human highway would be cool as well. i'm wondering if there's some stuff we don't know about.

As far as I know the only studio recordings from Homegrown that are out there are the ones that made it onto later albums. But I did read in an interview that Neil was planning on making it a part of the archives.

as with the live performance series (filmore, massey hall) there's supposed to be an 'unreleased album' series. Toast will be a part of this other possibilities are listed below.

Homegrown

Chrome Dreams

Comes A Time (acoustic)

Island In the Sun

Times Square

2nd Blue Notes album

Toast

i know i'm forgetting some...

Cool. I'm going to pick that up.

 

A little off topic, but this is a great quote:

 

 

I've got tix to see Neil play acoustic on the beach (at Ambleside Park, that is) in September. I'm even willing to put up with Sheryl Crow and Sarah McLachlan for the privilege. Now that's true love.

that clinches it. neil is working up an acoustic album. hopefully a solo tour to follow.

It is a possibility that it won't be, though. I remember reading something a while back about how there are no actual "original" TFA tapes left, because the way they made that album involved some bizarre on-site mixing scheme using a mobile tractor trailer. So there's no chance of remastering the tapes, since they were mixed on-site. Or something like that.

 

I feel fortunate to have somehow scored TFA on vinyl about 10 years ago.

a 320kbs rip of the HDCD of TFA that was supposed to come out years ago is out there on the web. i have it, and it sounds great! so there shouldn't be any reason it is not on vol. II.

neil has been quiet for a while. he's touring, yes, but that's over. i will be surprised if we don't get something this fall. Toast and Harvest Moon live are set to come out. i'm also thinking a new album spring '10 or fall '10. it's about time neil made a good acoustic album, even less produced than silver and gold.

Anyone know where I can set a preference for iTunes to automatically download album art when I import tracks and/or entire CDs??

under preferences.

Guitar Player magazine interview - by way of Thrasher's Wheat:

this sounds interesting. i hope it doesn't mean that the original TFA wont be on the vol II.

God, I love his music but that music just makes me feel even more hatred towards his personality.

?

http://www.time.com/time/video/?bcpid=1485842900&bctid=14364904001

don't know if this has been posted.

are you talking about me?im not taking shots at anybody.except the dorky ass girls who i know.

E.B. !!! sorry, just had to respond to that avatar. love EB!