harmless wrote:Yup. That LTRP riff doesn't sound like Shania Twain any more than it sounds like hundreds of blues riffs. And that's why Shania Twain uses it.
What takes it from quality blues to Shania Twain territory is that same mechanical exactness (what Henry Rollins has quipped the session musician "Get. Ting. Paid. By. The. Hour." heartless exaction) that country pop and similar stylings have favored for years, which is as far removed from Chicago blues as you can possibly hope to get, and which is only recently digging its soulless claws into the heart of better music.
The song isn't Chicago Blues. I'm getting bored of typing that.
But yes, I understand your point about the clinical exactness; it's a problem with all of these songs.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
New album fever or not, this is a really good album.
I never bothered with Ukulele Songs, so I had no expectations for SBM. I really like it though. I think FD is nice closer too.
My 3 favorites so far are Yellow Moon, Pendulum and Infallible. LTRP is the only one I'm not super into right now, but I'm excited to hear it live next week. These shows can't come fast enough. I think this album will be better live than the last few.
harmless wrote:Yup. That LTRP riff doesn't sound like Shania Twain any more than it sounds like hundreds of blues riffs. And that's why Shania Twain uses it.
What takes it from quality blues to Shania Twain territory is that same mechanical exactness (what Henry Rollins has quipped the session musician "Get. Ting. Paid. By. The. Hour." heartless exaction) that country pop and similar stylings have favored for years, which is as far removed from Chicago blues as you can possibly hope to get, and which is only recently digging its soulless claws into the heart of better music.
The song isn't Chicago Blues. I'm getting bored of typing that.
But yes, I understand your point about the clinical exactness; it's a problem with all of these songs.
I know. I was addressing your point that it doesn't sound MORE like Shania than it does those blues songs. I disagree...if you put the blues-borrowing pseudo-rocking country pop stuff that she was at the forefront of at one end of a line, and straight up blues at the other, the song wouldn't sit in the dead center. It sounds more like one than it does the other, and I gave my thoughts on why.
If anything, I'd figure proponents of the song would have no problem with my explanation, because it squares the blame on the recording aesthetic and post-performance manipulations more than anything else.
I can't find a link for S/T but I think they gave it 5/10 with a quote along the lines of: 'It's like throwing bangers at tramps, fun but ultimatley worthless.' Might have been print only.
They didn't review Backspacer.
Eddie Vedder never makes their annual 'cool' list either...
harmless wrote:Yup. That LTRP riff doesn't sound like Shania Twain any more than it sounds like hundreds of blues riffs. And that's why Shania Twain uses it.
What takes it from quality blues to Shania Twain territory is that same mechanical exactness (what Henry Rollins has quipped the session musician "Get. Ting. Paid. By. The. Hour." heartless exaction) that country pop and similar stylings have favored for years, which is as far removed from Chicago blues as you can possibly hope to get, and which is only recently digging its soulless claws into the heart of better music.
The song isn't Chicago Blues. I'm getting bored of typing that.
But yes, I understand your point about the clinical exactness; it's a problem with all of these songs.
I know. I was addressing your point that it doesn't sound MORE like Shania than it does those blues songs. I disagree...if you put the blues-borrowing pseudo-rocking country pop stuff that she was at the forefront of at one end of a line, and straight up blues at the other, the song wouldn't sit in the dead center. It sounds more like one than it does the other, and I gave my thoughts on why.
If anything, I'd figure proponents of the song would have no problem with my explanation, because it squares the blame on the recording aesthetic and post-performance manipulations more than anything else.
I can see that, but I was meaning T.Rex / glam / "Spirit in the Sky" more than Shania Twain. And Shania Twain borrowed from the same stuff.
But yeah, the bolded bit I completely agree with. I actually find it funny that so many people are blaming the chorus for being the problem with this song, when the chorus sounds entirely intentionally camp to me.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
stupidmop wrote:I'd be interested to know what makes eddie sound more like a loon on the back of the bus on this album than the others. Theres MFS i guess.
Besides, it's the loons at the back of the bus who make life good
It seems there's quite a lot of prejudice behind a lot of the metaphors used by NME.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
Strat wrote:Many artists, who have been around the block a few times, have numerous songs that are laughable, sub par, or not that great. Pearl Jam is one of them. However, it seems as though Pearl Jam gets bashed more than any other artist for having such songs as part of their larger catalogue. I am sometimes guilty of this and I am unsure as to why....
Not just here on the board either....
Im enjoying Lightning Bolt quite much.
What I like about these batch of songs is that there seems to be a piece of each of them I love. A certain song...lets say..Swallowed Whole...may not start out strong for me but by the end of the second verse I'm into it fully. For the most part of the last few albums, the songs I don't like, don't even have anything in it that redeems it (to me). So...really happy about this development!
And hell..if I can find ways to like SBM and Future Days, I know Lightning Bolt has got me by the short and curlies.
yeah I feel the same way, there are multiple songs where I feel like "I don't know about this one" and then something kicks in and I think "I love this". Lightning Bolt has what I think PJ does best, starts a bit slow/bare then builds and builds, goes down and builds back up. In that sense I love it, but I don't the way he sings the "lightning bolt" part. It almost seems like the timing of it is off. I do like the song, but wish that particular part could have been reworked somehow.
I think that "off" timing on LB makes that chorus.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
