The Album Review Club - Week #196 (page 1316) - Aja - Steely Dan

FogBlueInSanFran said:
That . . . . doesn’t bode well for me :)
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I’ll play the non extended version and pay it more attention, but I’ll be honest, I get the eclectic element that your review highlights, but really didn’t get any element of innovation from it as a1984 album that you imply regarding other American bands being influenced.

I could go into my first impression which is totally subjective as I keep saying about any music, but I think it would be fairer to play it again and see if the feeling is the same.

I think maybe you built it up too much for me, but that’s the common denominator of all these kind of music threads. We are all guilty of lauding our own taste and favourites and rightly so. That is the point of these threads and you and any of the chosen contributors should be praised for your openness and honesty of showing your own memories and emotions behind each piece of music.

We all think we are being objective in our own analysis without your memory of it, but in reality we have our own subjective influences forming our view of it, which is why I shy away from offering scores in these threads.

If you like it you like it. What anyone else thinks doesn’t matter.
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
If you go to the band name, then discography, it should give you a choice between the original version and the expanded one for all their records.
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Being a cheapskate I have a modified free version of Spotify with no ads, unlimited skips and an amoled black theme. I can only see the extended version with an additional seven tracks. An outtake of 20th Century Boy is one of them.
 
Invisible Man's Bandage said:
Being a cheapskate I have a modified free version of Spotify with no ads, unlimited skips and an amoled black theme. I can only see the extended version with an additional seven tracks. An outtake of 20th Century Boy is one of them.
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Didn’t think the cover was anything compared to T-Rex and I’m not particularly a Marc Bolan fan.
 
mancity2012_eamo said:
I’ll play the non extended version and pay it more attention, but I’ll be honest, I get the eclectic element that your review highlights, but really didn’t get any element of innovation from it as a1984 album that you imply regarding other American bands being influenced.

I could go into my first impression which is totally subjective as I keep saying about any music, but I think it would be fairer to play it again and see if the feeling is the same.

I think maybe you built it up too much for me, but that’s the common denominator of all these kind of music threads. We are all guilty of lauding our own taste and favourites and rightly so. That is the point of these threads and you and any of the chosen contributors should be praised for your openness and honesty of showing your own memories and emotions behind each piece of music.

We all think we are being objective in our own analysis without your memory of it, but in reality we have our own subjective influences forming our view of it, which is why I shy away from offering scores in these threads.

If you like it you like it. What anyone else thinks doesn’t matter.
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I think a lyric sheet helps. There are some great turns of phrase. And the style shifts as metaphor for teenage mood shifts is I think really spot on. The mix of deeply-felt songs vs throwaways (who covers “Black Diamond”???) is also a lot of fun.

Admittedly I am not sure I think this particular record was as influential as the band ended up being over its life — but this record gave hope to garage bands in an era of white arena rock and keyboard new wave (and mega artists like Springsteen, Michael Jackson and Prince, plus The Police and U2) from whence many other post-punk innovators sprung.
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
I think a lyric sheet helps. There are some great turns of phrase. And the style shifts as metaphor for teenage mood shifts is I think really spot on. The mix of deeply-felt songs vs throwaways (who covers “Black Diamond”???) is also a lot of fun.

Admittedly I am not sure I think this particular record was as influential as the band ended up being over its life — but this record gave hope to garage bands in an era of white arena rock and keyboard new wave from whence many other post-punk innovators sprung.
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Foggy, I’m definitely not trying to piss on your chips and I will listen to it and try to digest the lyrics more, as I do love a good turn of phrase. An image conveyed in one or two lines that a thousand words could do justice to, is right up my alley.
But that partly was the problem. I know it’s post punk but I thought the production on it was poor. I had to fiddle around on the playback option with the graphic equaliser to find acceptable levels of acoustic and bass and treble, so I could make out the singing and get any appreciation of the instruments. Maybe that’s down to my speaker but other stuff sounds fine.
I also get what you’re saying regarding American white arena rock etc in this era. I just couldn’t have anything to do with any of that genre at the time and haven’t mellowed to it nostalgically either.
For all the slagging I give Morrissey in here I was delighted with the likes of the Smiths and other such British bands changing the influence in music on this side of the Atlantic. I was getting into the likes of Talking Heads from your side of the water.
However, musically I heard everything from Lou Reed/Velvet Underground to Stiff Little Fingers to the New York Dolls and others in here, all done before and sounding better. That’s what I was getting at regarding innovation.
Now that is where I am being totally subjective while trying to sound objective, I suppose.

Anyway, I love a good lyric and will give it a proper second listen, but initially don’t get any comparison with Quadrophenia either, which I love.
 
Invisible Man's Bandage said:
I thought it was better than the original.

However, I hated the original and T Rex generally.
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Well, I’m going to admit my darkest musical secret that will probably get me thread banned by both @BlueHammer85 and @RobMCFC . . . .

Here goes . . .

I like The Power Station’s version of “Get It On” better than the original.

There. I said it.

Note: I really like the original. But for some reason the cover just blew my doors off and is right up there in the top 5 of my guilty pleasures.

It was nice knowing all of you.
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
Well, I’m going to admit my darkest musical secret that will probably get me thread banned by both @BlueHammer85 and @RobMCFC . . . .

Here goes . . .

I like The Power Station’s version of “Get It On” better than the original.

There. I said it.

Note: I really like the original. But for some reason the cover just blew my doors off and is right up there in the top 5 of my guilty pleasures.

It was nice knowing all of you.
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I’m not a glam rock fan in general so never really got into Bolan either.
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
Well, I’m going to admit my darkest musical secret that will probably get me thread banned by both @BlueHammer85 and @RobMCFC . . . .

Here goes . . .

I like The Power Station’s version of “Get It On” better than the original.

There. I said it.

Note: I really like the original. But for some reason the cover just blew my doors off and is right up there in the top 5 of my guilty pleasures.

It was nice knowing all of you.
Click to expand...

Loved T-Rex loads, big fan of glam rock. Absolutely fine to prefer a cover version - it was the ‘hate T Rex in general’ that was worthy of the ban for me
 
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