music recommendations

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Mon Sep 09, 2002 1:08 pm

Originally posted by frogus
Hmmm...They were lame at Reading . I remember their new song, and was not impressed IIRC, but maybe it was lost in such a big space etc...

I heard differently, an aquaintence of mine said they were very good at Reading, so i guess they must have just been average

I think nearly every band is better on an intimate stage...but that is another debate

Well apparently Queens of the Stone Age new album is meant to be very good, i haven't heard it yet though.

Well considering my Amazon List currently resides at about £150 mark and several things i have to get before that then I am trying not to add any more music to it

Here is just a few:
White Blood Cells ~ White Stripes
Morrison Hotel ~ The Doors
Screamadelica ~ Primal Scream
Pearl ~ Janis Joplin
Trout Mask Replica ~ Captain Beefheart
Live at the Regal ~ B.B. King
On the Threshold of a Dream ~ Moody Blues

You get the idea

<edit> I borrowed my mates copy of Rush of Blood to the Head by Coldplay, my first feeling was that this was an amalgamation of the last 10 years of music, there are so many guitar lines that sound very familiar to the nourished musical appreciator.

Expectantly the album does knit together well and is intricately produced, they do occasionally make it sound like a garage band but this is obviously intentional.

In my opinion there are very few problems with this album which perhaps is its main failing, it is so perfectly Coldplay that you can't help but like it but at the same time it shows potential for more again, i get the feeling their next album is going to be akin to Radioheads "edgy" innovative materials.

frogus · Post by **frogus** » Mon Sep 09, 2002 2:15 pm

Regarding Rush of Blood to the Head - I felt like they were plugged into my life, desperately trying to get me to buy it. The week it came out, there were posters up at reading and around town, and full back cover adverts on Q, The Big Issue, Time Out, The Guardian and Independant reviews and NME - namely, the only publications which I ever read

. I suppose I am a target market, but it made me think that somebody somewhere with a massive massive amount of money really wanted that album to sell... I also read several great reviews, but after hearing a bit of one of their songs playing in HMV, I believe that Coldplay are still the same old miserable bed-wetting mopy pseudo indie posing bunch of stalagmites...
They are IMO doing a very good job of convincing the world that they are just an honest to god rock-pop band, making original, if not desperately exciting records, in a world full of retrospection. But they are not, they are just the same as the strokes and all other rockers who seem incapable at the moment of thinking up a song for themselves...I wish another SFA would emerge sometime...

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Mon Sep 09, 2002 3:53 pm

I tend to agree, they are getting a great deal of press, to be honest I am not that concerned with the backing as long as the music they produce is quality. Some of the greatest artists have had a great deal of record production involved and have contrived great albums.

I wouldn't go to the trouble of buying their album over a more progressive band like (as you say) the Super Furry's, Coldplay's formula seems to work well for market appeal and this album is destined to be on adverts for a long time, I can see many of the songs converted to the 10 seconds of advertising. Coldplay seem to inhabit that space in between cool and pop, it's not such a faux pas if they are in your record collection

In the rush for "progressive art" the sense of formula can quite often be lost, finding the fine line between the two is something Radiohead do very well but Coldplay are a little to heavy on the formula if you ask me. The best move for Coldplay would be to ditch the current label and start producing records on their own without all the technical tomfoolery, much like The Doors did for LA Woman, whch in my opinion is the greatest of their albums.

Coldplay apparently were really good live at Glastonbury, why then ditch that live feel in favour of it being over produced? Surely if everyone raved about their live sound then they should transfer that to record...of course what do i know about sales and record execs

Tamerlane · Post by **Tamerlane** » Tue Sep 10, 2002 4:54 am

Originally posted by Mr Sleep
Well apparently Queens of the Stone Age new album is meant to be very good, i haven't heard it yet though.

The new QOTSA album is amazing, and I intend to get it this Friday, I would get it sooner but being a student I can risk missing a few days by getting it much cheaper somewhere else.

As for Coldplays new album I hated it, well not really in the sense that I despised it, more along the lines that I was disappointed by it. Its not much different from Parachutes and it seems that if they keep sticking to that similar genre, I'll lose interest in them completely. I was really hoping that would experiment more especially considering how close it (Rush of Blood) is to Parachutes, but I guess if thats what the people wanted then they should be happy.

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Tue Sep 10, 2002 5:59 am

Originally posted by Tamerlane
As for Coldplays new album I hated it, well not really in the sense that I despised it, more along the lines that I was disappointed by it. Its not much different from Parachutes and it seems that if they keep sticking to that similar genre, I'll lose interest in them completely. I was really hoping that would experiment more especially considering how close it (Rush of Blood) is to Parachutes, but I guess if thats what the people wanted then they should be happy.

I have this theory regarding pop music, most if not all pop music is actually well put together and most of the artists can in fact sing, the tunes they produce are a credible stab at making entertaining music. However it is the idea of them which makes the music so dissapointing, it is the thought that they are overproduced and over managed that make one feel all dirty inside. If i had no scruples i would probably like pop music, it is easy and "nice" no hard edges or innovation, i am afraid at the end of the day that is what most people want. The challenge of music is not attractive to most people, they would rather be comfortable.

I think it is much the same with Coldplay, they could have gone all abstract and innovative but no one, except a select few, wanted that so they sold out and produced a record for the masses, i like the music, i don't like the principle on which it is recorded.

frogus · Post by **frogus** » Wed Sep 11, 2002 2:31 pm

I don't think that it is a cosncious choice to go 'all abstract and innovative'. I like to think that Kandinsky was not just slapping a bunch of random colours on a canvas. I can trace the progression through his paintings from early impressionist landscapes, and see the point at which he started thinking for himself. Imagine if a martian came and made a record. To us, it would not even sound like music - and that is what I would like to see from rockers these days...music that sounds unlike anything. That shows that the author has looked within himself and gotten out something genuine, rather than a collage of recent trends etc. Radiohead's departure to Kid A was not just them being awkward and deciding to make wierd sounding stuff. They were not just slapping random noises on a Mac. They were starting to think for themselves.
I will give them time (although miserable guitars is not my favourite genre

), but I think that a lack of experimentation and progression points to a lack of ideas, rather than a decision to conform. I give them that much credit

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Thu Sep 12, 2002 4:17 am

I have often wondered if given the opportunity I would become a "pop idol" type performer, I have singing talent, although I don't think bass is quite what the teeny boppers appreciate

I think I probably would, the money now would be a lot better than my scruples, however at the same time there is something in me which would make me be progressive, maybe I would make some quick cash and then once my name was known I would be all "progressive", this is the thing I don't see with Coldplay.

Maybe I am not being realistic; not taking into account record execs etc but I still think they could try a little harder...maybe do a morrison and try a rooftop with some experimentation

Minerva · Post by **Minerva** » Thu Sep 12, 2002 4:54 am

Originally posted by Mr Sleep
I have often wondered if given the opportunity I would become a "pop idol" type performer, I have singing talent, although I don't think bass is quite what the teeny boppers appreciate

Of course, you can sing. You are a Welsh.

The problem is, so can many other Welsh. Too high competition. You should concentrate on becoming the geek of GameBanshee, instead.

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Thu Sep 12, 2002 5:10 am

Originally posted by Minerva
Of course, you can sing. You are a Welsh.

The problem is, so can many other Welsh. Too high competition. You should concentrate on becoming the geek of GameBanshee, instead.

Like Charolette Church who is apparently going out with a boy from the "wrong end of town"

I think i couldn't stage a coup of Flibble's position as "Super Geek" I will just stick to being "Squire Geek", it's a much more comfortable position to be in.

Not all welsh can sing, it is becoming a dying art, like making welsh delicacies...