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Troll's more of a mashed potatoes guy.
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I have no idea what you mean by that.
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"God Tier" is a little overblown for my liking tbh, but an album that I think of as being on level apart from the efforts of other musicians is Astral Weeks by Van Morrison.
Even the two-word title is a well chosen indication of what you will get: the mundane suffused with mystery. Details grounded in everyday life take on heightened significance as VM's ruminations on his Dublin past become reminders for us all. Anyway, that's what the lyrics seem to do on this album. VM's vocal style can lull you for a while with a stream of unemphasised, scattered ideas, but buried in there like gems are vivid images of single moments, frozen like they do in the movies. I hope this bit from Madam George gives an idea of what I mean:- And outside they're making all the stops The kids out in the street collecting bottle-tops Gone for cigarettes and matches in the shops Happy taken Madame George That's when you fall Whoa, that's when you fall Yeah, that's when you fall When you fall into a trance Sitting on a sofa playing games of chance With your folded arms and history books You glance into the eyes of Madame George VM's singing comes from the heart. At first it may not appeal, but it works like salt, an antidote to the music which is so exquisite that it risks being too perfect. Loose, mildly jazzy and acoustic, the instruments contribute a kind of melancholic wash of sound that does two things, imo: (a) gives a cohesion to the album so that one song drifts into the next and (b) tricks your brain into forgetting about verses, choruses and hooklines and thus gets in, under your consciousness - hence the "level apart" I mentioned at the start. Here's a track where all those things come together:- The only thing that perhaps marrs this track is that it turns out to be in praise of a 14-year-old, so is a bit off by today's standards. Can we be charitable to VM and take him at his word, that he is only looking, victim of a weird crush, Death-In-Venice style? I hope so. Finally, maybe "God Tier" is justified for Astral Weeks because Van The Man never found this level of inspiration again, imo, although he tried hard and got pretty close with various tracks - notably "Almost Independence Day" for example. But, yeah, for the rest of his career he was relegated from God's Tier and became a worthy, but striving mortal like the rest of us. |
That's a nice review. Beautiful album, Madam George is the standout for me. It creeps up in my subconscious now and then, it's weird how it's catchy or memorable, but because of the texture and lyrics more than melody
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I'm glad to hear you like the album too! You're right, Madam George is the standout, and you explain very well what I was trying to convey; the way the music swirls around and you find yourself lifted up without realising how it's happened.
Given the foregoing, it's odd that it's only this morning that I'm finally having a go at the Veedon Fleece album, said to be the closest thing VM did to Astral Weeks; all good so far, but music like this takes a listen or two before you fall in love with it. |
oh I should check that one out too. I never went past Astral Weeks and Moondance
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Hey, that would be really nice: if we discover the joys of Veedon Fleece together at the same time!
Don't forget to stop off via this track on your way though, please:- |
^I like this song for a start
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Out of over 30,000 pieces of physical music and
over 1 and a half million digital tracks that I have, this piece towers above them all. A friend from Norway reminded me, back in 2003, that I had told him back in the early 80s, that, even tho I thought the idea of a "god" was just pure nonsense, this piece was the closest I'd come to some kind of deity recognition. We then sat near the mixing desk in the middle of a performance space listening to the complete work, completely surrounded by speakers while Stockhausen himself guided the sounds throughout the hall. In the later years, I would be tutored by Stockhausen (as "klangregissseur") using this very same work. Even tho it's a work that has had multiple essays, academic papers, and even full books written about it, it's a work that is essentially ineffable. https://i.imgur.com/8ODK0yO.jpg |
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