Love or Hate Reborn
 

Now that I'm back I thought I'd give this another go. For any who don't know, this was a very popular thread a few years back and certainly had some of the best participation and interaction of any thread here in recent years. It's certainly not overstating the case to say that it was my most successful thread, though that's probably not saying much.

The premise is childishly simple: suggest an album, I'll review it and tell you what I thought of it, whether I loved or hated it, or anything in between. One album per person per time; until your first one is done you can't rec another one. No restrictions; any genre you like, ideally albums I haven't heard before but I'll even listen to ones I know, and report back on them. Maybe my opinion of them will have changed over time, who knows?

But primarily this is about listening to albums/artists I don't know or haven't heard, and of course it's about getting everyone involved. Music participation and discourse seems to have tailed off a little since I was here, from what I can see, so hopefully this can address that and bring us all together in the sense of fun and enjoying and talking about music.

Albums will be processed according to my now very full work schedule, but I will aim to try to do at least one a day. That may not always be possible, but we'll see. Please do not take offence if I slag off, hate or otherwise malign your favourite album or artist: it takes all kinds, and there will inevitably be some choices here that will not resonate with me. It's not meant to be personal, but those who know me here will tell you I won't pretend to like an album just so as not to put someone's nose out of joint. If I hate it, I'll tell you why, and if I love it I'll tell you why.



True Love
Love
Like
Meh
Hate

These are now the only colours you have to deal with, which will hopefully make things a little easier to understand.


Next Up:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...owCardiacs.jpg


ALBUM LIST


A Little Man and a House and the Whole World Window - Cardiacs (Frownland)
2020 - Richard Dawson (grindy)
Bark your Head Off, Dog - Hop Along (YorkeDaddy)
Tea and Symphony - Jo Sago (Neapolitan)


INDEX PART ONE
Trout Mask Replica - Captain Beefheart (Neapolitan)
The Rain - Ghazal (grindy)
The Invisible Comes to Us - Anna and Elizabeth (Frownland)
The Woods - Sleater-Kinney (MarieMarie)
New Mexico - Oppenheimer Analysis (Batty)
How I Loved You - The Angels of Light (Mondo Bungle)
Frostbit Fingers - Planktons Odyssey (Plankton)
Live at Imurj - Black Bouquet (Mrs Tristan Rosenstock)
Illusion Machine - Bret Higgins's Atlas Revolt (grindy)
Entertainment! - Gang of Four (Neapolitan)
Discipline - King Crimson (Frownland)
The Maria Dimension - The Legendary Pink Dots (Elephenor)
U.F.O.F - Big Thief (YorkeDaddy)
City of Caterpillar - City of Caterpillar (Mondo Bungle)
The Queen is Dead - The Smiths (Batty)
Talking Heads 77 - Talking Heads (Neapolitan)
Dreamclub - No Curfew Kids (Mrs Tristan Rosenstock)

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica (1969)
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....OL._SY450_.jpg

Woooo!

Ghazal - The Rain
https://open.spotify.com/album/0r7pq9mgyitHNWbWQzpPSk

Smartarse. Bet you're delighted to see me back, huh? You and Frown cook this up between you?

Nah, I just think in threes. My first album with a red/fuchsia cover is Trout Mask Replica, which will be followed by Gang of Four - entertainment! and Talking Heads - Talking Heads: 77

edit: I wanted to know if your musical taste expanded, too.

Anna & Elizabeth - The Invisible Comes to Us

Hi Trollheart, nice to finally meet you! Let me introduce myself by preaching the gospel of Sleater-Kinney:

Hello Marie. I've seen you around here while I was lurking, considering whether or not to jump the dark chasm and cross Bifrost, ford the moat and bang on the gates to announce my arrival. You seem a very intelligent person and look to have really found a home here, which is great. So often we have new members who either don't stay, talk nonsense or post once in a moon which isn't yellow. You don't seem to fall into any of these categories, so I'm sure the forum benefits from your presence.

I can't be sure, but I think I listened to a Sleater-Kinney album (probably for the original incarnation of this thread) and didn't like it, but feel free to try to convert me with another. Something about cities I think it was?

Anyway, nice to make your acquaintance.


ETA: Oops, sorry. Are you submitting that album for the list?

This one is quite different. I've picked up enough of your taste in music to guess it won't be your thing, so don't feel obliged to listen to the entire thing if you feel like it's unlistenable :)
Yep. Thanks for the kind words btw!

Frown, sorry: this ****ing thing is at it again! If I try to edit a post here now it's telling me access is forbidden to the resource. Would you mind checking that out for me? I thought this had sorted itself out as I had no problems this morning, but here it is raising its head again.

Thanks
TH

ETA: Weird. It just allowed me to edit the OP, yet when I tried to put in colour codes, it wouldn't. I wonder is it for some reason having a problem with BB codes? Yet it took italics and bold ok. Damn thing. What doesn't kill it disappoints me.

I had the same problem trying to quote Marie Marie.

frown be like

http://giphygifs.s3.amazonaws.com/me...ZhiU/giphy.gif

Color codes work fine here.

Interesting. Thanks for that Nea; thought it was just me.
Easy solution: ban me and it all goes away. Everyone wins!

Okay, let me give it another shot.

Hmm. Worked that time. I did it line by line in case, but they all saved in the end.

For a split second I thought grindy banned me for recommending Trout Mask Replica to you. I knew for certain Frownland wouldn't do that.

I think it's more likely grindy would ban you for not recommending TMR to me! Everyone wants to see me suffer.

So far to the best of my recollection I never gave you a album recommendation that I haven't liked. So I wouldn't have cause to suspect that they would be unpleasant to you and make you suffer. And if it ended up you didn't like them it was much to my surprise. If I wanted you to suffer I would have said the EP 3×3 by Genesis, maybe.

You weren't here for the original outing of TMR, in the Classic Albums I Have Never Heard journal, and then again in my History of Prog journal?

What issue numbers are those? Keeping up with TH continuity is confusing as hell.

Was that part of some big crossover event? I usually skip those.

No. I reviewed TMR in the Classic Albums journal, and it's also part of my History of Prog journal. Not sure what's so confusing about that. Too many Steel Reserves? Not enough Steel Reserves?

I didn't think my comic book references were that subtle.

Probably ****ing Secret Wars.

No I got them, I just didn't think they were funny.
Sssh! It's a secret! :pssst:

Ok, here we go. For comparison here are the two previous reviews I made of this album. This will be the last.

https://www.musicbanter.com/members-...ml#post1333904

https://www.musicbanter.com/members-...ml#post1773637

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...sk_Replica.png

Title: Trout Mask Replica
Artist: Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band
Genre: Experimental Rock/Art Rock/Avant-Garde/Blues/Free Jazz
Artist Reaction: Ah crap! I really don’t like Beefheart! :(
Genre Reaction: Anything with “experimental” or “avant-garde” in it is bad enough for me. Add in “jazz” and then prefix that with “free” and you have a recipe for disaster!
Familiarity: I’ve listened to this album twice, and heard one or two more of the Captain’s releases
Suggested by: Who else but Frownland? Actually, it was Neapolitan. No Christmas card for you, son!
A Little Background: Captain Beefheart is credited with revolutionising music as an art form, particularly prominent in the areas of jazz, avant-garde music, experimental rock and even progressive rock. Real name Don Van Vliet, all indications are that he was a mercurial character, perhaps sometimes as genius is allowed to be. He was a big influence on one of my heroes, Tom Waits, but that doesn’t mean I have to like him.
Expectations: I’ve heard this album twice already. The first time I hated it, the second I hated it less. This third time, I doubt I’ll love it but maybe it’ll click slightly better with me. Frownland believes you need to listen to this about forty times before you’ll “get it”. Sorry man, ain’t gonna happen!
Overview: A double album with some very weird titles, and some even weirder tracks themselves, it runs the gamut of everything from straight-ahead blues and jazz to freak-out fests, spoken word pieces and some things that just aren’t categorisable. Nearly every musician cites the album and its influence on them. That still doesn’t mean I have to like it.

God-damn it but that’s annoying! I forgot that of all the Beefheart albums, it’s the only one NOT on Spotify! So now I have to listen to a YouTube of it, and hope I can track where one song changes to the next. Well, I’ll do my best I guess!

Frownland: Always felt this was very disjointed, guitars seem to be working independently of each other. Probably wrong of course. First time I heard this I moaned that he was copying Waits. Oh, foolish me! To be fair, it’s not the worst but it’s a real jolt for a first track. Not exactly easing you into it then!
The Dust Blows Forward ‘n the Dust Blows Back: Seems to be sung acapella, a kind of folk song idea to it. Without the music, chaotic as it seems to me, this isn’t half bad at all.
Dachau Blues: Music’s back, but again this is not too bad. The vocal is relatively restrained for the Captain, and I guess in ways I just always think of him as Waits singing. Could do without the mad horns though. Can always do without mad horns. I really hate (what I’ve heard of) free jazz.
Ella Guru: Music sounds a little more cohesive to me here. Singing is ok. Again with the mad horns!
Hair Pie Bake 1: Now this I really hated first time I heard it, and the second time, but damn me if the third time isn’t the charm. It isn’t. I still hate it. A lot of silly sounds made on saxophones, flutes, harmonicas or who the hell knows what? Free jazz my ass. Too damn long for what it is. Guitar comes in later and makes it less bad, but I still hate it. Oh, and some talking at the end. Wonderful.
Moonlight on Vermont: At least this is catchy with the Captain in full flight. Quite rocky for what it is, can hear where Waits would get the likes of “Gun Street Girl” and “Sixteen Shells from a Thirty-Ought Six” from.
Pachuco Cadaver: spoken introduction then the guitar takes it in a kind of boogie blues run, again pretty catchy really. One of the guitars in the background seems to be keeping up a sort of heavy metal/hard rock riff that sort of reminds me of… Rush maybe? And there are the mad horns. Sigh.
Bill’s Corpse: Pretty off-the-wall (you don’t say!) with a choppy guitar line and a sort of sarcastic vocal from the Captain.
Sweet Sweet Bulbs: Kind of slid on into this track without me noticing. Same kind of thing I guess. This is why I hate listening on YouTube, especially to something like this where tracks tend to segue together sometimes.
Neon Meate Dream of a Octafish: Totally weird title, but what else is new? The Captain seems to talk the lyric rather than sing it - another thing Waits would rip off from him - and it sounds like there’s someone going mad on an organ in the music somewhere. The lyric is almost declaimed, as if he’s reading it off a cue card. Intentional, no doubt. Very weird. With an extra slice of weird on the side, and weird for dessert.
China Pig: Sounds like a blues run here, sort of acoustic like Delta Blues maybe? Decent vocal, not too harsh. Not bad, this.
My Human Gets Me Blues: This is more uptempo, with the vocal a little harsher.
Dali’s Car: A decent instrumental that echoes later “Dave the Butcher”. Harsh, metallic guitar kind of fighting with another, more strummed guitar. Instrumental, by the way. And short. Think some band ended up taking this as their name.
Hair Pie 2: And another instrumental. Any better than “Hair Pie 1”? Not really. It’s all right I guess, nothing terrible.
Pena: This is just talking, so far as I can see. Mostly the same words said over and over. Oh now there’s some jangly guitar coming in. Is that a female voice? Very annoying, with a capital A.
Well: Another acapella folk song. Sort of gospel overtones. This isn’t bad.
When Big Joan Sets Up: More free jazz horns. Man, I hate free jazz horns.
Fallin’ Ditch: Has another spoken intro, then it’s a growled, scratchy vocal and a - **** it, I don’t know what. I just know I don’t like it.
Sugar’n’Spikes: This one has a decent rhythm about it, like the guitar.
Ant Man Bee: This one is okay, bouncy and jumpy. Not mad about it but I don’t hate it. Much.
Orange Claw Hammer: Hey, at least they’re all short from here to the end! Another acapella folk-style tune. Not bad to be fair.
Wild Life: Crazy guitars in this. Why do I keep saying these things? Cos it’s hard to describe this music really and I want to prove I am actually listening to the damn thing. I am. Honest! No me gusta. Ay yi yi! Los hornes del diablo! Madre de dios! Etc.
She’s Too Much for My Mirror: More talking. Sigh. This gets real old real quick. Song’s pretty decent though.
Hobo Chang Ba: Say what? It’s all right I guess, but that’s about all I’ve been able to say about any track here. Nothing has resonated with me and I guess I’m trying to be polite and as positive as I can be. Whether I’m succeeding is another thing.
The Blimp (mousetrapreplica): mechanised voice on this always annoyed me. It’s like listening to Mister Magoo or something. Shut the hell up, I know it’s the goddamn blimp! You’ve said it enough times. **** off, and take your damn horns with ya!
Steal Softly thru Snow: I seem to remember the album ended well. Am I wrong? Probably. I had the idea that this was some sort of slower song. It ain’t. I don’t know where I got that idea. It’s not too bad though and I kind of like the jazzy guitar in it.
Old Fart at Play: Another spoken vocal line, decent jangly guitar. Meh.
Veteran’s Day Poppy: Good bluesy-ish guitar then it’s more kind of sixties jangle pop or some damn thing.

Conclusion: Third time lucky? Not quite. It’s probably a slightly better result than the last time, but while I can recognise the accepted importance of this album and its place in music history, its influence and all that, it’s never going to be for me. The only time I’m ever going to be listening to this is for scientific reasons, ie research or requested review. I’m never going to listen to it for pleasure, cos it don’t give me none. That’s just me, of course. Many of you love it, and fair play to you, but it ain’t in my wheelhouse, and never will be. If we meet on the street I may tip my hat and grunt politely as we pass each other, but we ain’t never gonna be friends.

So, Love or Hate? With all the magenta I suppose it has to be a Like a Little, but I can’t imagine there’s enough there for me to ever want to listen to this again.

Vile hate to largely annoyed to liking it a little. I'm not one to say I toda so, but didn't I tell you it was a grower? You're about 5 listens from it being your numero uno.

Five listens that will never happen in this lifetime. I've had enough Beef(heart) as I can stomach at this point. Think I might go vegetarian...

If my calculations are correct, you'll be a beefhead after two redacted exodi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzgDHkuBCIc