Vacant Horizon

Does anyone knows if the DVD version of the archives is region free and if not if there is a region 2 version avilable?

i'm pretty sure it's region free.

okay, so we have, doom metal, which is actually stoner rock. i find that interesting, since doom does not seem linked with getting high.

I would concur with all of these although I only heard the Tim Easton once. The Earle is good, but then you would have to try really hard to screw up an album of Van Zandt covers....

 

LouieB

really disappointed in the Townes. sounds like earle is drunk and just slurring everything. stand outs are the songs he does with allison and justin. other than that, just a toss off. could've been great. however, i'm just gonna listen to towns.

It's in the liner notes - I think. I have read that he had never played the banjo before cutting that track. I didn't get to see the film, as my TV is not working very well these days.

tv not working is a blessing:)

i like riverboat way more than canterbury house.

I was raised on this stuff.

 

Saw Yes about 20 times, Genesis 15 times, ELP 10 or 12 times, etc.

 

BeBop Deluxe, Gentle Giant, King Crimson, Nektar, etc.

 

The Genesis records especially hold up incredibly well, same with some Yes stuff.

 

I don't listen all that often but when I do i'm always surprised how much I still dig this stuff

so isn't the top five prog bands, yes, genesis, floyd, elp, kc...? wish i could get into kc. theyve made some interesting music in the 90s and 00s, but again, bad bad production.

Would you consider Opeth progressive metal?

 

Probably not huh. I like what those guys do though.

wouldnt they be death metal, or doom? i fund the genres of prog and metal fascinating. symph prog etc.

...but, they dont play folk music. maybe ward does, but not the others.

really wish they had an atlanta show. i would probably say gillian welch is my favorite artist, along with farrar and tweedy, of the last 15 years. any word on new albums from either. its been six years!!

i had a huge prog kick in the early 2000s. one of my really good friends is a prog freak so he let me borrow everything. EVERYTHING, old and new. favorites remain yes (yes album, fragile, close to the edge, relayer, going for the one), genesis (seconds out), floyd (animals, wish you were here), gentle giant (power and the glory), rush (himispheres). the new stuff is so badly produced. it's like they just love that late 80s sheen production. too bad. flower kings, spocks beard seem to be the big names in prog these days. theres a lot of it, but its so samey and nothing really compelling to my ears. and, produced badly. now, if the first few flower kings albums were produced the way the last few wilco albums were produced, that would be another story.

these guys have gotten so much mileage out of so few songs. amazing.

also, the fact that this is being released prolly means the cover record is a no go. i'm also amazed these guys tour anymore. i mean, stephen stills cannot sing. its that simple.

CLASSIC phish!!

hey-

thrasherswheat.org has been nuts concerning the archives. there's someone close to the project under the guise 'archives guy' who is answering many questions. a part i found interesting was this...

"The upcoming vinyl remasters of the first 4 albums are thought, in our circle, to be the finest versions of these records ever heard. You might want check them out, once released. These records will debut the NYA ORS series. (Neil Young Archives Original Release Series)"

i hope these will be on CD too. it looks like we got 3 series going on now: archives, original release series, and unreleased album series. kind of cool.

also, the samples are up at amazon mp3 for the archives. nothing amazing. neil should've included bad fog and jttp on harvest instead of there's a world and a man needs a maid. would have been killer!

c

You're right, but you're ignoring the fact that many people on youtube are very serious about playing music and they use youtube as a way of getting their performaces in front of people, where they can get feedback and encouragement and hopefully improve. A lot of these people are way too young to play in clubs, so why wouldn't they use Youtube as an outlet?

one of the big issues here is that there are a lot of very serious people who play music and are really bad, no matter how much they work at it. at the same time, there is also a good number of folks who like these folks. they have no sense of what's good or bad. any given night in atlanta one can find several bland songwriters who are 'really serious' and a crowd that just takes it all in. interesting.

Keep On Tryin' is on of my all time favorite songs.

And, based on the rarity of talent, there's more noise without a greatly proportional increase in quality noise.

that's what i was trying to say.

case in point...on several levels

There's a TON of great current music. It just may be harder to find because there's so many bands jumping in the pool right now. And if you base what's current by what you hear on the radio or see on TV, then yeah, no shit it's gonna seem like music sucks. You have to get off your butt and/or do some research and seek out what might be good. Sometimes you'll try something that kinda sucks, then you might stumble across an artist that you love....music's ALWAYS been like that.

 

The Jonas Bros. or Hannah Montana don't bother me. The pop crap aimed at tweeners has always been around.

 

And the "anybody can do it with today's technology" argument is crap also. Kanye West's latest cd used Pro Tools and other new technology, and I doubt Kanye can play guitar or keyboards as well as most musicians, but who cares?! Music is more about the sound and feel and vibe and lyrics. How much music did My Blood Valentive understand when they released "Loveless"? I don't know, nor do I care. I personally love the soundscapes they created on that record. I could care less how well they can play various instruments or if they understand the history of rock n' roll.

the point about technology is not really divisive. it's just a fact. it's a lot easier for folks to make a record. the good is that there's more out there to potentially listen too. the bad is that it doesn't up the number of new dylans or tweedys, it just makes for more junk to sift through to find the good stuff.

I feel this beginning to creep into my brain too. Which is why I am so happy that a guy like Bob Dylan is writing songs right now that I know I will be able to appreciate on a whole other level when I get to be 60.

 

If you believe that rock n roll came of age in the 50s/60s, then it means the dudes who invented it are IN their 60s now. And there's new ground to cover for the 60 yr old listener as opposed to the 18 yr old listener. As I said, I love Dylan for it (e.g., Not Dark Yet, Tryin to Get To Heaven, Things Have Changed, etc.). It's also why I am tremendously disappointed in guys like Paul McCartney. It's a whole, new, fresh canvas. And where the hell is Paul? Playing the oldies with studio musicians and pumping his fist in the air to Freedom?

 

Also, Van Zandt is an idiot and that article is ridiculous.

 

ETA: also, the McCartney point was a sweeping generalization -- I know he is doing new stuff. Not looking to derail this into a discussion about McCartney. I just think he could be doing more (and better) and he's just lazy.

the last fireman album was really really good. if mccartney had been knocking that stuff out in the 80s...wow.

That’s sort of how I feel as well. I’m not convinced the quality of the (mostly indie) music being released today has declined, as much as I hate to admit it, at 38, it’s simply more difficult for me to relate to music performed by (and to some extent, for) folks in their teens and twenties. At that age, I was a big fan of angsty, aggressive music (think – Dischord and Amphetamine Reptile and Touch & Go, etc) or anything having to do with break ups and all the usual drama that sort of occupies much of your brain’s processing power – but now that I’m older and with child, I just don’t connect with the music on th same emotional/visceral level.

 

Much of it sounds great, but outside of just sounding great, more often than not, once the sheen has worn off, there’s really nothing there to hold my attention – see also The Vampire Weekend.

 

At the end of the day, ensuring the mortgage is paid on time sort of diminishes the importance of being all sad and moody and deep and stuff.

as a dad in his mid 30s i can relate to this. for me however, i am worried i'm gonna miss something and i have made myself crazy checking boards like this trying to find new music that i could relate to. truth is, it's just not happening anymore for me. if something does come to me, then great. otherwise, i find myself sticking to what i've always liked. at night it's ipod with earphones. in the car it's the classic rock station. other times, i just have no music since the house is utter glorious chaos with my two sons running around .

Complete bullshit. This tired argument gets trotted out all the time.

 

There is more amazing music coming out every year than most people even have the time to listen to. The major labels are just upset because they no longer hold a monopoly on distribution.

good point.

good points above. my judgment may have been a bit charged. i'm just passionate about this stuff and come to think of it, a bit conservative. like steve, i have this notion of a 'mythical' past where music was just awesome. i'm thinking late 60's early 70's. they key word there is myth though. there's always been good music and if bands stick with some lineage from the past, then how will anything new come along? part of my frustration personally is that i like music too much and there's just so much out there at our finger tips now that its overwhelming for me. so, i just get reactionary and 'right off' so much stuff immediately.

"The result is an extraordinary amount of mediocrity,"

this says it all. 99% of music is complete junk. and the fact that anyone can make a cd these days makes for even more junk! seriously, is there anything out there worth listening too besides wilco, son volt, white stripes, black keys, kings of leon?

I've poked around trying to find a place to listen to this thing, or at least parts of it, but to no avail. Any help?

if you torrent, then it'll be easy to find.

are the bonus tracks from okema japan edition any good?

I kinda agree with point 1 & 3 but lets face it: You & I really is the definition of blandness. Seriously, there's no reason to like this song other than the 'zomg, Feist is on it!'-thingie.

well, i see all the fascism that surrounded the cover art has dissapated a bit. at least there's some conversation here about the album and not just wilco fundamentalism.

the album is okay. i'm gonna consume it and be on my way. much the way i was with sbs. there's no yhf experimentalism on here, so i don't know what jeff or whoever said there was, was talking about. in terms of writing a songy song album, sbs hit the mark. wta kind of misses the mark and is quite a mess in direction and there are several mis-steps that have been already discussed above. bbn would have been the direction i would've like to see the band go. however, i think tweedy is happy now and the band is a fun place to be...the music reflects that. i prefer the wilco ditch duology of yhf and agib. tremendous albums for all time, especially agib. and they came out of a completely different zeitgeist. these are the ones i return to most.

Jeff Ament Assaulted, Robbed

 

P'Fork:

 

According to a police report obtained by Rolling Stone, thieves attacked and robbed Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament outside an Atlanta recording studio recently. The band had been working on a new album with producer Brendan O'Brien at the studio, Southern Tracks.

Rolling Stone reports that on the afternoon of April 27, Ament and a "band employee" were pulling up outside the studio when three masked men emerged from the nearby woods and threatened them with knives. They broke the windows of Ament's Jeep and demanded money, making off with $3,000 in cash and $4,320 worth of goods. They also knocked Ament to the ground and assaulted him, giving him a head laceration that emergency medical technicians had to treat. Even though security cameras caught everything on tape, no arrests have been made yet.

 

In totally and completely unrelated Pearl Jam news, guitarist Mike McCready will perform the national anthem at the Seattle Mariners game on Tuesday, May 19. It's part of CCFA (Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America) Night at Safeco Field, which will raise awareness and funds to help fight the bowel disease.

everytime springsteen is rumored to be recording there i creep a round a bit. one would have to wait a long long time to rob someone there. it's also in fairly nice area of town.

now i wish i had run into vedder at kroger or something.

by any chance did it give a rough timeframe?

 

-justin

it seemed like it was gonna be over the next two years. of course, fork in the road pushed stuff back.

the track lists don't show entire albums, but the entire harvest album seems to be available on the demo. so, maybe the entire albums will be available via hidden tracks.

i know that i really really want a remaster of the first album. that would be nice.

what a mess this project is.

exactly!