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Jay Farrar (and Friends): New Multitudes


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the guthrie project that has been sitting in the vault for a while. don't think i'll pick this up. jay definitely saves his best stuff for SV. he's only got a few songs on this too, as far as i can tell. Yim Yames...why?

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/Multitudes-Deluxe-Farrar-Johnson-Parker/dp/B006X96PB0/ref=tmm_acd_title_0

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the guthrie project that has been sitting in the vault for a while. don't think i'll pick this up. jay definitely saves his best stuff for SV. he's only got a few songs on this too, as far as i can tell. Yim Yames...why?

 

 

http://www.amazon.co...tmm_acd_title_0

 

Why Jim? Because Jim is awesome. Regardless of your personal taste, it can't be denied that Jim James is respected within the musical community. Collaborations with M Ward, Conor Oberst, Preservation Hall Jazz Band multiple times and tours, Ben Sollee, Daniel Martin Moore, Dr Dog, handpicked to open for Pearl Jam, the Roots.

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Why Jim? Because Jim is awesome. Regardless of your personal taste, it can't be denied that Jim James is respected within the musical community. Collaborations with M Ward, Conor Oberst, Preservation Hall Jazz Band multiple times and tours, Ben Sollee, Daniel Martin Moore, Dr Dog, handpicked to open for Pearl Jam, the Roots.

 

Exactly what I was gonna say! :D

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Exactly what I was gonna say! :D

 

i loved At Dawn-Z. However, i just thing since Evil Urges the guy just dicks around with his talent. If he just sang songs in his range without the goofy lyrics i'd have a different opinion. you're right, jim james is asked to be in a lot of stuff, but that doesn't mean he's any good. it's really too bad, MMJ could've been a great band of the 00s and beyond, like Wilco. I'll be forever confused why M.Ward wanted to work with both oberst and yames.

 

i know i'll be lambasted for this response, but you asked, why jim? :headbonk

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i loved At Dawn-Z. However, i just thing since Evil Urges the guy just dicks around with his talent. If he just sang songs in his range without the goofy lyrics i'd have a different opinion. you're right, jim james is asked to be in a lot of stuff, but that doesn't mean he's any good. it's really too bad, MMJ could've been a great band of the 00s and beyond, like Wilco. I'll be forever confused why M.Ward wanted to work with both oberst and yames.

 

i know i'll be lambasted for this response, but you asked, why jim? :headbonk

 

goofy lyrics? Sure he has some goofy type songs, but the majority are pretty serious. What are goofy? specifically from say circuital?

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i loved At Dawn-Z. However, i just thing since Evil Urges the guy just dicks around with his talent. If he just sang songs in his range without the goofy lyrics i'd have a different opinion. you're right, jim james is asked to be in a lot of stuff, but that doesn't mean he's any good. it's really too bad, MMJ could've been a great band of the 00s and beyond, like Wilco. I'll be forever confused why M.Ward wanted to work with both oberst and yames.

 

i know i'll be lambasted for this response, but you asked, why jim? :headbonk

The Jim James dilema.....I agree that MMJ haven't really kicked on how I imagined they would. 'Z' is an amazing album but they seem to have lost focus with the most recent two. 'Circuital' isn't a bad record but its not one I keep going back to. That said he is a major talent and watching him belt out 'Wordless Chorus' live is something that everyone should experience at least once in their lives. He has a solo record due this year. It could either be stunning or really bad.

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For me, with both MMJ and Wilco, its not the studio recordings that I really care about, in fact they are pretty much irrelevant to me. Both bands excel as live rock ensembles, and for me, that is where the magic happens. The studio recordings are just templates for live performances when the songs really take off. I agree Evil Urges isn't very good and Circuital is OK, but many of the songs on those records are killer when played live (I feel the same way about most Wilco records, too). Jim James is a superb frontman, he's got tons of charisma, passion and energy combined with what seems to be a deeply soulful humility and a spiritual benevolence. At least that's what I sense when I'm at one of their shows. And the band together has amazing chemistry, they just blow the doors off every time I see them. The dudes know how to build a crescendo, they have a mastery of creating drama through dynamics, and they just plain rock the fuck out in total mind-blowing synchronization. To me, they have exactly the qualities that make a great great live rock band.

 

I can totally understand why some might not like his voice, but when he sings It Makes No Difference, his singing floors me as much as Rick Danko's does. I also understand those who are disappointed with the recent studio output of MMJ, but I'd encourage you to not discount them until you've seen them live recently. They still got it in spades.

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goofy lyrics? Sure he has some goofy type songs, but the majority are pretty serious. What are goofy? specifically from say circuital?

 

'Baby in a blender.'-yim yames

 

incidentally, i'm digging his songs on this new guthrie album. i'm a mess :)

 

The Jim James dilema.....I agree that MMJ haven't really kicked on how I imagined they would. 'Z' is an amazing album but they seem to have lost focus with the most recent two. 'Circuital' isn't a bad record but its not one I keep going back to. That said he is a major talent and watching him belt out 'Wordless Chorus' live is something that everyone should experience at least once in their lives. He has a solo record due this year. It could either be stunning or really bad.

 

i saw them during the it moves era and it was really great. they are def a tight professional band. they even did some of Cobra at that show. i'm curious about his solo album.

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really liking Chorine My Sheba Queen. Soft spot for most anything Wil Johnson.

 

I agree. Yim Yames and Jay's songs sound a bit...predictable?

 

I'll still buy it.

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is New Multitudes Jay Farrar's response to Mermaid Avenue?

The Guthrie Archives approaches musicians to interpret the vast lyrics left behind by Woody. My guess is this will go on for many years, given the expanse of material... so no... not really accurate to call this a response. Incidentally, Jay was approached to dig with Billy Bragg before Tweedy. As I am not a Billy Bragg fan, I'm glad it shaked out the way it did. The Multitude effort is by and large superior to the Mermaid outings.
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The Multitude effort is by and large superior to the Mermaid outings.

I'm going to have to say STRONGLY disagree.

First listen through and Jay's stuff is definitely the least interesting material on the album. Will Johnson's cuts seem to be the most favorable to me.

Also, did anyone else find it strange that one of the songs is "Revolutionary Mind" when that was already released by Autumn Defense. I know Autumn Defense's first album isn't that well known but considering that's one of the songs that came out of those sessions, it's surprising someone didn't pick up on it. It seems bizarre that with all the supposed lyrics laying around we're already seeing one repeat.

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