The Album Club: "Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro" by Billy Childs

~~MicShazam~~ · 02-22-2018, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland

Jazz for people who aren't interesting enough to like jazz. Or maybe jazz for people who discovered their love for jazz in the lounge of a hotel full of Weinstenites pretending to be classy. I find absolutely none of this compelling. This was clearly meticulously put together, but the end result is a sterile and soulless product. There are a lot of cinematic elements at play that somehow double down on the adult contemporary cliches that litter the record. When I listen to this, I don't hear passion. What I hear is a group of people who don't care about music with a lot of music training putting out an album that they've been told is right. If this was released shortly after Revolver, I could chalk up how bloated it is to hopping on the strings bandwagon, but since this was released in 2014, I get to call this album unnecessarily pompous. The piano serves as the grounding for a lot of the record but in a formulaic and boring way. This is the musical equivalent of The Da Vinci Code: a well-produced, star-studded sleeping pill that takes itself too seriously to spend time on being interesting.

Things that I did like:
The dreamy interlude on Map to the Treasure about 3 minutes in
Rickie Lee Jones' voice (even if the song was ass)
The two and a half second nod to Webern at the end of Stoned Soul Picnic
Some of the piano runs on Gibsom Street
The fact that someone most likely wrote the lyrics to Save the Country without an inkling of irony

It's cool if you like this album man, but I'm genuinely shocked that you're surprised that we're reacting so poorly to such a trite record. This doesn't even function well as background music. 1/10

I disagree with pretty much every single idea expressed here against the album.

**Frownland** · 02-22-2018, 07:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MicShazam

I disagree with pretty much every single idea expressed here against the album.

Didn't you once say that jazz deserved to die?

What did you find compelling about this record? At the very least, do you understand where I'm coming from with my criticisms of the record?

~~MicShazam~~ · 02-22-2018, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland

Didn't you once say that jazz deserved to die?

As a joke, yes. It was a reference to an idea i've often seen expressed: That jazz died because it lost it's connection to people who were not obsessive music nerds. That it lost any semblance of a populist streak, basically, and thus retreated back underground. For better or worse.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland

What did you find compelling about this record? At the very least, do you understand where I'm coming from with my criticisms of the record?

I understand where you're coming from, but it only makes it strikingly clear how we have almost completely opposing perspectives on music. To me, music is a wonder. It's life affirming, and I'm in no way ashamed to say that I love beautiful music. What I hear on this record is gorgeous soundscapes, lively music, skilled singers putting their own spin on each individual tune. There's even a lot of musical detail here and everything sounds rich and impeccably clearly recorded. I love recordings where I can hear every detail. No mud or fuzz. The way classical music is typically recorded, essentially.

Whether or not anyone here is phoning it in or performing with passion is going to have to remain a subjective judgment, but there's no doubt that I'm hearing the latter.

**Frownland** · 02-22-2018, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MicShazam

It's life affirming, and I'm in no way ashamed to say that I love beautiful music.

Same here.

Quote:

What I hear on this record is gorgeous soundscapes, lively music, skilled singers putting their own spin on each individual tune. There's even a lot of musical detail here and everything sounds rich and impeccably clearly recorded. I love recordings where I can hear every detail. No mud or fuzz. The way classical music is typically recorded, essentially.

I respect that. Thing is that I've heard this kind of thing done far too many times and have never really cared for the sound. It is most definitely meticulous, well-produced, and the musicians are practiced, but that doesn't change how unimaginative and trite I find this record.

Quote:

Whether or not anyone here is phoning it in or performing with passion is going to have to remain a subjective judgment, but there's no doubt that I'm hearing the latter.

Idk if phoning it in is quite the right way to put it. I think it's more that their philosophy of music centres on being "right" and being more imitative than individual.

~~MicShazam~~ · 02-22-2018, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland

Idk if phoning it in is quite the right way to put it. I think it's more that their philosophy of music centres on being "right" and being more imitative than individual.

To be fair, these singer do sound different on their own recordings - as far as I could hear when checking them out one by one. So they do perhaps imitate Nyro in a sense (to varying degrees, though. Rickie Lee Jones sound completely like usual). I don't know if I agree this is a problem. I really like the concept of this record: Take 10 Laura Nyro songs, 10 different singers and let their voices subtly transform the material. They do not change the songs into something completely different. That could have been another approach, I suppose. Renée Fleming, for example, normally sings classical vocal. Would have been a very different album.

Anteater · 02-22-2018, 06:50 PM

As someone who actually enjoys a lot of laidback jazz (including the "smooth" labeled stuff) I thought this album was good but not a revelation. The Rippingtons and Pat Metheny, for instance, make up for the occasional cheesy ideas with a lot of energy in the arrangements or clever chord progressions in their melodies. Billy Childs is a phenomenal pianist and composer under most circumstances. but I think he was boxed in a bit by doing these covers. But anyone who expected some kind of high energy fusion extravaganza going into this had the wrong expectations.

There are songs here where the arrangements stretch out a bit into more adventurous territory, like the title track where we get occasional early Scott Walker-styled orchestral interludes that work well in context. I'm at a midway point between Frownland and MicShazam's POV: some of the covers here are inspired, others don't work as well. The sax improvisations in the 2nd half of 'Been On A Train' were a nice touch though.

I'll give it a solid 7 out of 10.

OccultHawk · 02-22-2018, 07:56 PM

Almost everyday I add a new release to the 2018 free jazz thread. It’s full of real jazz by real musicians dedicating their life to making serious jazz and these ****head worthless pop musicians drop their names on this listless Kenny G processed heartless soulless talentless fake music that not only isn’t jazz but isn’t even decent pop or anything. It’s a ****ing insult to jazz. There’s ten worthwhile releases coming out everyday to no recognition and this ****ing garbage gets billboard number one jazz. This isn’t ****ing jazz. Billy Childs shouldn’t just be chastised for making very bad music he also deserves to get his ****ing ass kicked for taking up space. For ****ing wasting the atmosphere that actually creates the sound waves this worthless **** takes up. It’s a personal insult to me that my fellow human would stoop this ****ing low. Someone should beat the **** out of his mother. I’m not even joking.

Oriphiel · 02-23-2018, 01:52 AM

Damn

~~MicShazam~~ · 02-23-2018, 03:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OccultHawk

Almost everyday I add a new release to the 2018 free jazz thread. It’s full of real jazz by real musicians dedicating their life to making serious jazz and these ****head worthless pop musicians drop their names on this listless Kenny G processed heartless soulless talentless fake music that not only isn’t jazz but isn’t even decent pop or anything. It’s a ****ing insult to jazz. There’s ten worthwhile releases coming out everyday to no recognition and this ****ing garbage gets billboard number one jazz. This isn’t ****ing jazz. Billy Childs shouldn’t just be chastised for making very bad music he also deserves to get his ****ing ass kicked for taking up space. For ****ing wasting the atmosphere that actually creates the sound waves this worthless **** takes up. It’s a personal insult to me that my fellow human would stoop this ****ing low. Someone should beat the **** out of his mother. I’m not even joking.

I actually got the recommendation from someone who also listens to lots of "real" jazz and has written books about it.

Your opinion here reads like hopeless music snobbery 101.

~~MicShazam~~ · 02-23-2018, 03:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anteater

As someone who actually enjoys a lot of laidback jazz (including the "smooth" labeled stuff) I thought this album was good but not a revelation. The Rippingtons and Pat Metheny, for instance, make up for the occasional cheesy ideas with a lot of energy in the arrangements or clever chord progressions in their melodies. Billy Childs is a phenomenal pianist and composer under most circumstances. but I think he was boxed in a bit by doing these covers. But anyone who expected some kind of high energy fusion extravaganza going into this had the wrong expectations.

There are songs here where the arrangements stretch out a bit into more adventurous territory, like the title track where we get occasional early Scott Walker-styled orchestral interludes that work well in context. I'm at a midway point between Frownland and MicShazam's POV: some of the covers here are inspired, others don't work as well. The sax improvisations in the 2nd half of 'Been On A Train' were a nice touch though.

I'll give it a solid 7 out of 10.

I'm glad you liked it at least somewhat. You'd be just the guy to understand the appeal of this sort of thing.

View Poll Results: How Much Did You Enjoy The Album?
Loved it	1	9.09%
Liked it	3	27.27%
Meh	2	18.18%
Disliked it	0	0%
Hated it	5	45.45%
Voters: 11. You may not vote on this poll

02-22-2018, 07:56 PM	#27 (permalink)
OccultHawk one-balled nipple jockey Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Dirty Souf Biatch Posts: 22,033	Almost everyday I add a new release to the 2018 free jazz thread. It’s full of real jazz by real musicians dedicating their life to making serious jazz and these **head worthless pop musicians drop their names on this listless Kenny G processed heartless soulless talentless fake music that not only isn’t jazz but isn’t even decent pop or anything. It’s a ing insult to jazz. There’s ten worthwhile releases coming out everyday to no recognition and this ing garbage gets billboard number one jazz. This isn’t ing jazz. Billy Childs shouldn’t just be chastised for making very bad music he also deserves to get his ing ass kicked for taking up space. For ing wasting the atmosphere that actually creates the sound waves this worthless takes up. It’s a personal insult to me that my fellow human would stoop this ing low. Someone should beat the ** out of his mother. I’m not even joking. __________________ 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Member of the Year & Journal of the Year Champion Behold the Writing of THE LEGEND: https://www.musicbanter.com/members-...p-lighter.html

02-23-2018, 01:52 AM	#28 (permalink)
Oriphiel Ask me how! Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: The States Posts: 5,355	Damn __________________ ---------------------- \|---Mic's Albums---\| ---------------------- ----------------------------- \|---Deafbox Industries---\| -----------------------------