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DriveYourCarDownToTheSea · 07-07-2013, 11:17 PM

BTW, a few misc. thoughts ...

MPP is a fantastic album, but I do find one fault with it in that it has just one song too many that could pass as a more-elaborate 80's techno-pop tune. My Girls, for example, starts out really great, but when the beat kicks in it loses some appeal to me. It's not bad that way, mind you, but sounding a little like an 80's techno-pop tune gives the song a bit of a dated feel, even if it's got electronic effects no one in the 80's would have thought of. Summertime Clothes and Bluish fit the same bill. Neither are bad songs, they just make me feel a bit like going back into a time machine. IMO, they could have gotten away with just My Girls and Summertime Clothes and it would have been OK, but I really find myself wanting some more somber song replacing Bluish - especially since it's surrounded by two already upbeat songs (Daily Routine and Guy's Eyes - both of which are fantastic).

My other thing is - and you might discern this from my statement about the last cut on Campfire Songs above - I prefer songs with some structure. A lot of these avante-garde/experimental bands often sound like their just playing and singing nearly random notes and calling it "creative." I don't buy that. Anyone can play a bunch of almost-random notes ... but there's no talent there. It's like writing a sentence comprised of gibberish, like this:

"Singing futures pingbacks potpie the temper of calculator dawn."

So, I could claim that's "art" because maybe it's got a bit of a nice meter, maybe - but really, it's just garbage. However, give it some correct sentence structure, and you can lay claim to some talent:

"So set the sun over everything, creating crimson chorus of sun song."

At least it's got a verb, and a noun, and actually, well, makes some sense. But at the same time it's very rythmical, has some nice alliteration, and so on. It's a bit free-form, but it's not random gibberish. (BTW that's part of a poem I wrote myself many years ago).

Anyway, for those reasons I found the first 4 cuts on Campfire Songs to be not much more than some college guys banging away semi-randomly in a studio (or garage!), but the last song contained more structure in addition to some nice musical hooks, which is why I thought it was such a promising song.

07-07-2013, 11:17 PM	#487 (permalink)
DriveYourCarDownToTheSea AllTheWhileYouChargeAFee Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Kansas City Posts: 1,158	BTW, a few misc. thoughts ... MPP is a fantastic album, but I do find one fault with it in that it has just one song too many that could pass as a more-elaborate 80's techno-pop tune. My Girls, for example, starts out really great, but when the beat kicks in it loses some appeal to me. It's not bad that way, mind you, but sounding a little like an 80's techno-pop tune gives the song a bit of a dated feel, even if it's got electronic effects no one in the 80's would have thought of. Summertime Clothes and Bluish fit the same bill. Neither are bad songs, they just make me feel a bit like going back into a time machine. IMO, they could have gotten away with just My Girls and Summertime Clothes and it would have been OK, but I really find myself wanting some more somber song replacing Bluish - especially since it's surrounded by two already upbeat songs (Daily Routine and Guy's Eyes - both of which are fantastic). My other thing is - and you might discern this from my statement about the last cut on Campfire Songs above - I prefer songs with some structure. A lot of these avante-garde/experimental bands often sound like their just playing and singing nearly random notes and calling it "creative." I don't buy that. Anyone can play a bunch of almost-random notes ... but there's no talent there. It's like writing a sentence comprised of gibberish, like this: "Singing futures pingbacks potpie the temper of calculator dawn." So, I could claim that's "art" because maybe it's got a bit of a nice meter, maybe - but really, it's just garbage. However, give it some correct sentence structure, and you can lay claim to some talent: "So set the sun over everything, creating crimson chorus of sun song." At least it's got a verb, and a noun, and actually, well, makes some sense. But at the same time it's very rythmical, has some nice alliteration, and so on. It's a bit free-form, but it's not random gibberish. (BTW that's part of a poem I wrote myself many years ago). Anyway, for those reasons I found the first 4 cuts on Campfire Songs to be not much more than some college guys banging away semi-randomly in a studio (or garage!), but the last song contained more structure in addition to some nice musical hooks, which is why I thought it was such a promising song. __________________ Stop and find a pretty shell for her Beach Boys vs Beatles comparisons begin here Last edited by DriveYourCarDownToTheSea; 07-07-2013 at 11:23 PM.