20 years on - how does this record stand up?

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I think it's....

a classic
4
12%
pretty good
10
30%
okay
2
6%
overrated
9
27%
terrible
8
24%
 
Total votes: 33

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Goat Boy
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Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?

Postby Goat Boy » 09 Jun 2018, 12:10

It has its moments for sure. There is something there but it's also unfocused and messy and wildly overpraised. I've never really understood the whole Anne Frank thing either. I do think the title track is great and moving though plus it's easy to play on the geetar. I'll give him that one.

It's funny that it's become a classic for the Pitchfork generation. I remember when I was on Myspace in the mid '00s and you'd see this record listed on peoples pages quite a bit so it already had a certain "classic" status amongst indie fans by then.

I voted overrated.
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Diamond Dog
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Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?

Postby Diamond Dog » 09 Jun 2018, 12:14

That is my all time hated cover. I don't know why but it makes me angry just looking at it.
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BARON CORNY DOG
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Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?

Postby BARON CORNY DOG » 09 Jun 2018, 12:26

Terrible then, worse now.
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Diamond Dog
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Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?

Postby Diamond Dog » 09 Jun 2018, 12:31

Vic Snazell-Sprey wrote:
Diamond Dog wrote:That is my all time hated cover. I don't know why but it makes me angry just looking at it.


I'm the same with Four Symbols.


:lol:
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Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?

Postby clive gash » 09 Jun 2018, 12:39

Image

Awful stuff but useful in the long run, it signalled the start of the New American Indie/Alt. Smiths - all of which was truly ignorable.

Image

Hear this, vomit and never have to bother with New Pornographers, Neko Case, The National, Decemberists, all that sensitive, grumbling shite that Mojo promoted.

Image

Screw you Spoon, Death Cab For Cutie, Modest Mouse. Even the names bring out cold sweats.

Image

Dad Indie.
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Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?

Postby naughty boy » 09 Jun 2018, 12:40

LeBaron wrote:Terrible then, worse now.


Yes.

A pox on all that contemporaneous American indie-folk too - Bright Eyes, Modest Mouse, Death Cab For Cutie. Rotten.
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naughty boy
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Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?

Postby naughty boy » 09 Jun 2018, 12:41

Ah!
Matt 'interesting' Wilson wrote:So I went from looking at the "I'm a Man" riff, to showing how the rave up was popular for awhile.

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clive gash
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Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?

Postby clive gash » 09 Jun 2018, 12:42

Bright Eyes! How could I forget :(
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Diamond Dog wrote:...it quite clearly hit the target with you and your nonce...

...a multitude of innuendo and hearsay...

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Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?

Postby Bent Fabric » 09 Jun 2018, 13:04

I have to say, this is one case where I stand firmly behind all of the invective and find it downright refreshing.

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Ranking Ted
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Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?

Postby Ranking Ted » 09 Jun 2018, 13:30

LeBaron wrote:Terrible then, worse now.

This. I can’t stand it.

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Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?

Postby Darkness_Fish » 09 Jun 2018, 13:54

I quite like it, especially to the first couple of tracks, they have a real energy and vitality about them, and Mangum plucks a couple of distinctive elegant phrases out of the air. It's quite endearing how he belts everything out at full volume, even though his voice is slightly annoying.

Oh Comely is a dreadful dirge which removes all goodwill the rest of the album has generated, if you don't skip past it.
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Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?

Postby Hightea » 09 Jun 2018, 13:56

Dad indie hehe know it’s in insult but I’ll go with it. I’ll gladly stand alone it’s a fucking classic. Love all it brought too. Note I didn’t read reviews about it until years later. I loved it when I heard Oh comely at a record shop. Bought the cd and loved still do although maybe a little less and do have to be in the mood for it.
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Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?

Postby joels344 » 09 Jun 2018, 15:15

I probably listened to it more 12 years ago than I do nowadays, but I still consider it a classic. I’d say the best out of the whole American indie folk scene, as well. Though Iron and Wine’s Our Endless Numbered Days comes pretty close.
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George P. Smackers
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Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?

Postby George P. Smackers » 09 Jun 2018, 16:04

For me, it's in a category of widely beloved indie records of around 1996-2006 that I missed, due to my checking out for a while.

I always buy these for a $1 at the thrift store when I find them, just out of curiosity to see if I can hear what the love was all about and maybe get in on it.

In the past year, purchases included this one, Turn on the Bright Lights, Almost Killed Me, Either/Or, a few others.

It took me a few listens but I'd say Aeroplane at least has some appeal that's recognizable to me that I can almost feel. The others not so much (--though I actually like Almost Killed Me and listen to it in the car). I like "Two-Headed Boy" pretty well.

The earnest, freak-show, carrot-flowers, turn-of-the-century Americana business reminds me of the taste of people I knew at the time, even if I didn't pay attention to what they were listening to. The crap in their apartments, their tattoos, etc.

So even though I don't love it, I think it's OK. It gives me a kind of nostalgia for something that never happened to me.

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Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?

Postby naughty boy » 09 Jun 2018, 16:22

If these prissy fuckers felt they were part of a 'movement' then that must have encouraged them and their 'endeavors'.

How unfortunate we were!
Matt 'interesting' Wilson wrote:So I went from looking at the "I'm a Man" riff, to showing how the rave up was popular for awhile.

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Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?

Postby Goat Boy » 09 Jun 2018, 16:27

I did like one of those Bright Eyes albums....Wide Awake it's Morning.

But, yeah, grim times mostly.
Griff wrote:The notion that Jeremy Corbyn, a lifelong vocal proponent of antisemitism, would stand in front of an antisemitic mural and commend it is utterly preposterous.


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Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?

Postby George P. Smackers » 09 Jun 2018, 16:28

The Venerable B. Eef wrote:If these prissy fuckers felt they were part of a 'movement' then that must have encouraged them and their 'endeavors'.

How unfortunate we were!


Yeah I couldn't say if they thought it was a movement, I don't know enough about Mangum and the rest. It felt more like a zeitgeist thing, just in the air at the time.

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Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?

Postby Penk! » 09 Jun 2018, 16:30

I always found it a bit rubbish.

Even when I was a student in the early years of this century, eagerly lapping up Pitchfork's weekly hypes (well, I never really got into Clap Your Hands Say Yeah), I thought it was a bit rubbish.

There weren't any tunes, see. And the guy's voice is annoying.

The key thing in any music, for me, is hooks. This can be a melody, a beat, a little guitar figure or synth fill or cool sound or memorably freaky bit or whatever. This record didn't have any; it was just some guy droning on down his nose.
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Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?

Postby Goat Boy » 09 Jun 2018, 16:34



I do love this. His voice isn't exactly loveable but I do find the 2nd verse really quite moving.
Griff wrote:The notion that Jeremy Corbyn, a lifelong vocal proponent of antisemitism, would stand in front of an antisemitic mural and commend it is utterly preposterous.


Copehead wrote:a right wing cretin like Berger....bleating about racism

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Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?

Postby Matt Wilson » 09 Jun 2018, 16:41

Ha ha, sounds like a lost Incredible String Band deep cut, just not as whiney.


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