20 years on - how does this record stand up?
- Goat Boy
- Bogarting the joint
- Posts: 32974
- Joined: 20 Mar 2007, 12:11
- Location: In the perfumed garden
Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?
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.
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.
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
- Diamond Dog
- "Self Quoter" Extraordinaire.
- Posts: 69577
- Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 21:04
- Location: High On Poachers Hill
Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?
That is my all time hated cover. I don't know why but it makes me angry just looking at it.
Nicotine, valium, vicadin, marijuana, ecstasy, and alcohol -
Cocaine
Cocaine
- BARON CORNY DOG
- Diamond Geezer
- Posts: 45153
- Joined: 18 Jul 2003, 05:38
- Location: Impregnable Citadel of Technicality
Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?
Terrible then, worse now.
take5_d_shorterer wrote:If John Bonham simply didn't listen to enough Tommy Johnson or Blind Willie Mctell, that's his doing.
- Diamond Dog
- "Self Quoter" Extraordinaire.
- Posts: 69577
- Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 21:04
- Location: High On Poachers Hill
Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?
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.
Nicotine, valium, vicadin, marijuana, ecstasy, and alcohol -
Cocaine
Cocaine
- clive gash
- wannabee enfant terrible
- Posts: 17219
- Joined: 29 Sep 2007, 00:32
- Location: down the rabbit hole
Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?
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.
Hear this, vomit and never have to bother with New Pornographers, Neko Case, The National, Decemberists, all that sensitive, grumbling shite that Mojo promoted.
Screw you Spoon, Death Cab For Cutie, Modest Mouse. Even the names bring out cold sweats.
Dad Indie.
It takes a big man to cry, but it takes a bigger man to laugh at that man.
Diamond Dog wrote:...it quite clearly hit the target with you and your nonce...
...a multitude of innuendo and hearsay...
...I'm producing facts here...
- naughty boy
- hounds people off the board
- Posts: 20252
- Joined: 24 Apr 2007, 23:21
Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?
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.
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.
- naughty boy
- hounds people off the board
- Posts: 20252
- Joined: 24 Apr 2007, 23:21
Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?
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.
- clive gash
- wannabee enfant terrible
- Posts: 17219
- Joined: 29 Sep 2007, 00:32
- Location: down the rabbit hole
Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?
Bright Eyes! How could I forget
It takes a big man to cry, but it takes a bigger man to laugh at that man.
Diamond Dog wrote:...it quite clearly hit the target with you and your nonce...
...a multitude of innuendo and hearsay...
...I'm producing facts here...
-
- Posts: 2969
- Joined: 22 Jul 2014, 21:38
Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?
I have to say, this is one case where I stand firmly behind all of the invective and find it downright refreshing.
- Ranking Ted
- Posts: 12751
- Joined: 03 Feb 2004, 22:13
- Location: Northern Britain
Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?
LeBaron wrote:Terrible then, worse now.
This. I can’t stand it.
- Darkness_Fish
- Posts: 7793
- Joined: 27 Jul 2015, 09:58
Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?
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.
Oh Comely is a dreadful dirge which removes all goodwill the rest of the album has generated, if you don't skip past it.
Like fast-moving clouds casting shadows against a hillside, the melody-loop shuddered with a sense of the sublime, the awful unknowable majesty of the world.
- Hightea
- Posts: 4364
- Joined: 16 Apr 2015, 02:18
- Location: NY state
Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?
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.
- joels344
- Posts: 1304
- Joined: 17 Dec 2016, 17:37
- Location: Nashville, TN
- Contact:
Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?
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.
90s Cup Champion, The Prog Cup 2019 Champion
- George P. Smackers
- Posts: 203
- Joined: 11 Jun 2017, 23:18
Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?
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.
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.
- naughty boy
- hounds people off the board
- Posts: 20252
- Joined: 24 Apr 2007, 23:21
Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?
If these prissy fuckers felt they were part of a 'movement' then that must have encouraged them and their 'endeavors'.
How unfortunate we were!
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.
- Goat Boy
- Bogarting the joint
- Posts: 32974
- Joined: 20 Mar 2007, 12:11
- Location: In the perfumed garden
Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?
I did like one of those Bright Eyes albums....Wide Awake it's Morning.
But, yeah, grim times mostly.
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.
Copehead wrote:a right wing cretin like Berger....bleating about racism
- George P. Smackers
- Posts: 203
- Joined: 11 Jun 2017, 23:18
Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?
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.
- Penk!
- Midnight to Six Man
- Posts: 35784
- Joined: 07 Aug 2004, 20:12
- Location: Stockholm
Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?
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.
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.
fange wrote:One of the things i really dislike in this life is people raising their voices in German.
- Goat Boy
- Bogarting the joint
- Posts: 32974
- Joined: 20 Mar 2007, 12:11
- Location: In the perfumed garden
Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?
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
- Matt Wilson
- Psychedelic Cowpunk
- Posts: 32516
- Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 20:18
- Location: Edge of a continent
Re: 20 years on - how does this record stand up?
Ha ha, sounds like a lost Incredible String Band deep cut, just not as whiney.