Members G-bus v2.0 Posted March 13, 2007 Members Share Posted March 13, 2007 your earlier point about how the songs stand up when performed by just a singer-guitarist is pretty spot on... I disagree. There are plenty of great songs that don't/can't translate well to a singer/acoustic guitar format, and any attempt to test them from that perspective is completely biased and meaningless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Magpel Posted March 13, 2007 Author Members Share Posted March 13, 2007 I believe Lee (F. not K.) and Blue agreed that the solo guitar (or solo piano) performability thing was "a pretty good litmus test" of a song's integrity. I've heard it expressed more dogmatically than that by your Nashville types , and I've disagreed. Sometimes, ensemble composition IS the song, not merely the arrangement thereof, and that's valid too. Similarly, in some great songs, a hamrony vocal part is so integral that the song is not the song without it, and it's not just a case of an adornment being so good and so apt that it is later becomes accepted as part the song. Rather, sometimes the melody itself is a joint venture between two lines and when one is removed, the melody as originally conceived ceases to exist, or something like that. I gotta shut up and get back to work now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members your ad here! Posted March 14, 2007 Members Share Posted March 14, 2007 I loved OK computer but find everything since pretentious and self-indulgent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lee Flier Posted March 14, 2007 Members Share Posted March 14, 2007 I believe Lee (F. not K.) and Blue agreed that the solo guitar (or solo piano) performability thing was "a pretty good litmus test" of a song's integrity. I've heard it expressed more dogmatically than that by your Nashville types , and I've disagreed. Sometimes, ensemble composition IS the song, not merely the arrangement thereof, and that's valid too. Similarly, in some great songs, a hamrony vocal part is so integral that the song is not the song without it, and it's not just a case of an adornment being so good and so apt that it is later becomes accepted as part the song. Oh, I totally agree and I've argued this point many times in fact. There are a LOT of great songs that are defined by the arrangement, so I don't by any means think that a song must be performable by a solo artist to be any good. There's a reason why I always write songs within the context of a band, and I'm all about that, big time. I simply meant that if you can perform a song solo and it still holds up well, it's probably a good song, and a lot of Radiohead's songs fall into that category. Even though their arrangements are great and a big part of their sound, which is pretty cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members alphajerk Posted March 14, 2007 Members Share Posted March 14, 2007 wow, im suprised about the sonics comment for Kid A... i think it sounds really good, and on my monitors... its pretty apparent what sounds BAD. its done by nigel godrich to boot which is a very similar sound to Becks Mutations which is great sounding as well. once they stepped into Kid A territory, i think bands like Sparklehorse put them to shame. i liked their early rock stuff tho. i never saw them as a seminal band however. just another one at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gone 6 days now Posted March 14, 2007 Members Share Posted March 14, 2007 IMO I think amnesiac is a much better album than kid a, they also had a very shameful first album called Pablo Honey (just if you didn't know). Coming from Ireland I heard alot of Radiohead and like pretty much any of their stuff, except crap/creep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TIP Posted March 14, 2007 Members Share Posted March 14, 2007 Never could get into their brand of production...I like Wilco for my over the top navel gazing production. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members G-bus v2.0 Posted March 15, 2007 Members Share Posted March 15, 2007 wow, im suprised about the sonics comment for Kid A... i think it sounds really good, and on my monitors... its pretty apparent what sounds BAD. its done by nigel godrich to boot which is a very similar sound to Becks Mutations which is great sounding as well. Godrich did the latest Air album as well, and it sounds pretty damn good to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Magpel Posted March 15, 2007 Author Members Share Posted March 15, 2007 Godrich did the latest Air album as well, and it sounds pretty damn good to me. And the final Pavement album, Terror Twilight, which got mixed-to-bad reviews from their long time fans (I think it's great) but which is in any case a terrific sounding record. John Leckie produced The Bends, and it is much like other stuff he's produced--excellent in terms oif songs and performances, but not so hot in pure sound quality. He also did the first few XTC album (as well as their extraordinary Dukes of Stratospheare stuff) and The Posies' Dear 23 which is to my mind THE indispensible Posies album, though that is a minority opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eeglug Posted March 15, 2007 Members Share Posted March 15, 2007 I don't have their first album but I have the rest - I'm lukewarm on Amnesiac but everything else is great. One thing I noticed with OK Computer - for those who have trouble with it. I feel the pacing of the cd gears the more experimental music first and by the time Fitter Happier comes along, it can be exhausting if you're not into it. But the last 4 songs (Climbing the Walls, No Surprises, Lucky, The Tourist) are all more conventional in song structure and IMO very good although they are far from being anthemic rock tunes. I found it worthwhile to listen to these in isolation to get a better appreciation of them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zooey Posted March 15, 2007 Members Share Posted March 15, 2007 And the final Pavement album, Terror Twilight, which got mixed-to-bad reviews from their long time fans (I think it's great) but which is in any case a terrific sounding record. I'll never understand why it was so poorly received. There are some great songs on there. It is definitely a great sounding record, too. OK Computer, Terror Twilight, Can You Still Feel (Jason Falkner), and Sea Change (Beck) all have an atmosphere to them that I really like. Godrich worked on all of those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ara Ajizian Posted March 15, 2007 Members Share Posted March 15, 2007 My opinion on Radiohead is that they're a phenomenal band. Funny thing is, when someone first tried to turn me on to them, it did nothing for me (I think the guy loaned me OK Computer and Kid A). A few years later, I stumbled upon OK Computer, listened, and thought, "Dude, what the hell were you thinking? This is a masterpiece." OK Computer is definitely my favorite Radiohead album...I'm a guitar-lover at my core and this album just nails it...killer playing, loads of textures, and brilliant songwriting. I like Amnesiac more than Kid A, although there are great songs on both albums. But Amnesica feels stronger overall to me. Packt Like Sardines, Pyramid Song, I Might Be Wrong, Knives Out, Dollars and Cents, Like Spinning Plates, Life in a Glasshouse....oh baby:D Hail to the Thief is a good album, but aside from Pablo Honey, it's probably the Radiohead album I listen to least. The Bends is Brit-pop at its best, but I kinda burned myself out on that album so i haven't listened to it in a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Magpel Posted March 15, 2007 Author Members Share Posted March 15, 2007 Well our project just hit speed bump when one of the guitarists--the non-singing one--dropped out. Apparently, the magnitude of learning the tricky guitar bits on three Radiohead albums finally dawned on him. He's a busy guy--plays Zither in the Blue Man Group--who would be commuting up from NYC (90 miles) to do the rehearsal Johnnie Wang is undeterred. His first suggestion was to move me to the other guitar position (my main instrument) and replace me on bass with another long time friend and collaborator who's a "real" bass player. But I balked at that. The reason I signed on was because I love to play bass and haven't had has many opportunities to do so since I started my own serious original band about a year ago. Plus, I have neither the time nor the aesthetic inclination to get all that Radiohead guitar content under control. Damn shame, 'cause the guitarist who dropped out is great player, especially gifted at sound-making, if you know what I mean. So now we're looking for guit #2. Johnnie and I had already begun running The Bends. Now I think we'll wait till our lineup is restored. Thanks for listening... Favorite Radiohead songs as of today: "Just," "Black Star," and "No Surprises." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted March 15, 2007 Members Share Posted March 15, 2007 "No Surprises" floors me every time I hear it. Just an amazing song. Lots of others, but that song in particular for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Magpel Posted March 16, 2007 Author Members Share Posted March 16, 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Magpel Posted March 16, 2007 Author Members Share Posted March 16, 2007 Ooops Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Magpel Posted March 16, 2007 Author Members Share Posted March 16, 2007 Ooops -- my 10 year old son did that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members myshkin Posted March 16, 2007 Members Share Posted March 16, 2007 ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted March 16, 2007 Members Share Posted March 16, 2007 I disagree. There are plenty of great songs that don't/can't translate well to a singer/acoustic guitar format, and any attempt to test them from that perspective is completely biased and meaningless. No, no... that's why Beethoven's Ninth will never go anywhere... it just doesn't work when played by a guy or gal with a guitar. Yeah, no. Like Magpel volunteered pretty correctly on my behalf, it's a mark, I think, of a good song that it can grab you when done by a guy or gal with a guitar. But it's not an exclusive thing. There's plenty of great music that just can't be done properly (by normal humans, anyhow) on a guitar on a stool in a coffeehouse. I've seen a guy do "A Love Supreme" (the Coltrane outside jazz classic) on an acoustic guitar and... you know, it just lacked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted March 16, 2007 Members Share Posted March 16, 2007 Ooops -- my 10 year old son did that Watch out. Today it's BB Code to include some images. Tomorrow it'll be HTML and javascript. But before you know it, he'll be programming in C++ BB Code. Gateway to hell... Er... heck. I guess if there's a 10 year old around I better clean up my language. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Synonym Music Posted March 16, 2007 Members Share Posted March 16, 2007 Here's an opinion on Radiohead (and it WAS asked for this time): They're boring. Not downer depressing boring, just slow and stoned boring. The pace is albums worth of slow material. Earlier stuff was different but again, not all that wonderful to me. I'd leave if someone was covering it unless they infused it with the lifeblood of eternal youth. Otherwise, ugh..... No, no and no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ernest Buckley Posted March 17, 2007 Members Share Posted March 17, 2007 One of the bravest bands. I enjoy some of their stuff. The Bends is great but I always enjoyed Kid A. Something about it... takes you to another place. EB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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