All Time Top 1100 Albums (Aerosmith - Big Ones) P265

[BlueHammer85]

To put my perspective on it. When I went to this film (that’s movie in ‘Murica) I was about about 21 years old and had up until then been fed on a diet of rock/prog rock with hints of country rock and folk. I didn’t do punk so much yet. I had dabbled with the likes of Bowie and wasn’t big on the new romantic scene and post punk mish mash.
I was quite selective in what I liked and would buy.
I’m pretty sure I heard of this film through a recommendation from Barry Norman on Film 84 or some such. I had seen Psycho Killer performed on OGWT and was interested but not overly impressed with it. As others have alluded to, the noise and feedback at the crescendo at the end kind of smacked of a lack of musicianship to me, judging it from my lofty prog rock tower.

But the Jonathan Demme film was given a great review and Barry urged that whether you were into the band or not go see it.

It was on the last night of a two or three week run in The Screen cinema in Dublin (showed arty stuff. Long since closed) Myself and my then girlfriend went to it, her knowing less about it and having less interest in music generally, than I did.

The cinema was practically empty.
We picked prime seats in the centre and laid back not knowing what to expect.
Up until that my ideas of a live album were all the mid seventies staples. Yessongs, Bursting Out, Rust, Moonflower, Live Herald, Live and Dangerous etc etc.

I hadn’t even seen Rory’s Irish Tour ‘74 film at that stage, if I recall, which in its original state is ok, but I don’t like the later editing. But the original album is insanely good in my opinion, for capturing this kind of artist in his raw majesty

From the moment we see Byrne’s feet walking out to the stage and him just placing a beat box on the floor of an empty stage I thought, this is different.
I know I’ve told this story in full in here before so I’ll cut it short.

Both of us were drawn in slowly to music we were unfamiliar with, sucked in skilfully by the sheer joy on display and then blown away by the whole funkiness and the foot tapping groove.
Whether you like Byrne’s voice or not, in concert you cannot take your eye’s off him. He’s always interesting and not in the typical rockstar moves that seem so formulaic with some bands. This weird shit he does just seems natural, like his movement.
I grew to hear the same in the offnotes and feedback which just fit the concert feel. After all I’m used to Zappa, Crimson, Yes and a whole heap of experimentation so it doesn’t upset my sensibilities.

We came out converted and couldn’t wait to tell our mates in the pub we were meeting them in.

Time past. I wasn’t with the same girl when the film eventually came back to Dublin for a long long extended run in The Ambassador which had a stage in front of the screen.
Well I can’t tell you how many weekends I saw that film. It became the highlight of the week.
Pints in the pub across the road, then in for the midnight show, where we would go mental on stage, be chased by the bouncers until they gave up because of the sheer volume of people who had taken our lead and started dancing on stage. Great memories of when I was in my prime.

So that’s basically what this film is about for me. I will revise down my score to a 9 for the album, as I do still look at SMS as a 10/10 film.

I don’t tend to listen to the album without the visuals anymore.

sometimes a 'like' just isn't enough

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

And Martin Scorcese is a better film director than Jonathan Demme.

Indeed he is. And better than just about everyone IMO!

 

[OB1]

Indeed he is. And better than just about everyone IMO!

That's another debate but he is one of the greatest. He has also made two concert movies and I imagine some would make claims for those.

I don't think I've seen all of The Last Waltz but I have the star studded album. I have seen Shine A Light and also have the soundtrack, which features several classic songs that put anything I've heard from Talking Heads into shade.

I haven't seen SMS but then I am reviewing the album. I will try and see the movie at some point.

 

[Onholiday(somemightsay)]

Talking Heads
Remain in Light
2/10

Beth Orton
Central Reservation
4/10

David Crosby
If Only I Could Remember My Name
7/10

Def Leppard
Euphoria
2/10

Beck
Mellow Gold
2/10

Bad Company
Bad Company
6/10

Bob Dylan
Bringing it all back home
6/10

Aretha Franklin
Aretha Now
6/10

Carly Simon
No secrets
3/10

The Beatles
Help!
6/10

Rush
Permanent Waves
5/10

Leonard Cohen
Songs of love and hate
3/10

Crosby Stills & Nash
Crosby Stills & Nash
7/10

Frank Sinatra
Sings for Only the Lonely
5/10

Talk Talk
Spirit of Eden
5/10

Roxy Music
Country Life
3/10

Joe Jackson
Body and Soul
2/10

Madonna
Erotica
2/10

Violent Femmes
Violent Femmes
2/10

Metallica
Metallica (Black?)
6/10

Bob Dylan (Father to love-child @BlueHammer85 )
Love and Theft
4/10

Derek and the Dominos
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
4/10

Talking Heads (@BlueHammer85 are you paid on commission by these guys?) ;-)
Stop making sense (Live)
Here we go again..............

@RobMCFC I think your ears prick up at the same overproduction of sounds or effects that litters their music as mine.

In addition, I don't seem to be able to hone in on what the guy is really singing / yodelling / making noises about? Are we tone deaf to different things or am I just a bit off - on seconds thought, don't answer that ;-)

Surprisingly, I enjoyed this far more than listening to Remain in Light (which lets face it, I hated and given my time again it would have scored a 1).*

There is some ok stuff on this across 3-4 tracks, Slippery people is good - and I would say this is the perfect example of how they can be improved (yes yes, who am I to critique the almighty Talking Heads) by refining their output. Less is definitely more and strip away the overproduction and extremely busy wall of sound and it can be good.

In a parallel universe, I would like to see how the live version of Cross eyed and painless pans out after the first enjoyable minute of music. As I professed when someone posted in here right at the inception of the thread, I like the opening bit but once the change of pace is injected it's only the really the backing singers that I really like.

I don't doubt their ability, to be fair I don't doubt their creativity (again back to the over done sound effects, I just wonder whether this is an extension of that and / or that particular period of time), but as I have probably laboured to death with @Bill Walker , regardless of their technical ability the overall output is and can be bettered by far inferior (technically) musicians.

I'm going 5/10 (again referring to previous scores) which is a huge swing from where I started with them circa 5 months ago.

I have to raise it though, I'm not sure why a lot are so set that this is THE live performance that everyone should be aspiring to. Who knows, I'm 35 and still learning.

* Some of my responses are potentially not as consistent as usual as I am now reviewing whilst in Greece on holiday - the sun is shining so how has a far greater platform than the usual drive to work et al.

Have we come across a more decisive act than Talking Heads? To be fair to them, I imagine they would love it.......... :-)

 

[RobMCFC]

@RobMCFC I think your ears prick up at the same overproduction of sounds or effects that litters their music as mine.

Well, at least this is confirmation that there are noises there, and I'm not just hearing things in my head.

"Overproduction" on a LIVE album. That is a damning indictment! (but spot-on).

 

[arfurclue]

To say that I didn’t enjoy this would be quite some understatement. I find that there can be a type of cleverness and artiness that is different from - and a poor substitute for - genuine creativity. At the first ‘qu’est que c‘est,‘ i was like ‘uh-oh,’ and then when ‘bah ba bah ba…’ comes along, alarm bells are ringing and i don’t want to listen to anything this guy has to offer. By the end, yeah there are some parts that could possibly be put together to create songs i could enjoy. Just not in this packaging, not with this tone and, most likely, not with this band. 3/10

 

[chesterbells]

No (though I do like it), never seen it, and absolutely under any circumstances no.

Jonathan Demme is a real film director. This tends to matter to things like, say, the quality of a film.

That’s true pal. Though I rate Steven Soderbergh highly as a film director, but for a Yes fan like me, his 90125 concert film took away from the music, it didn’t add value.
Just because a director makes great fiction movies it doesn’t necessarily follow they will make the best music concert film. I’d also say it’s virtually impossible to divorce your opinion of a concert film from how much you love (or not) the actual music.
I’d rate Prince’s Sign o The Times concert film very highly, but if I’m honest it’s because I really like the songs; no idea who the director was.

 

[chesterbells]

To say that I didn’t enjoy this would be quite some understatement. I find that there can be a type of cleverness and artiness that is different from - and a poor substitute for - genuine creativity. At the first ‘qu’est que c‘est,‘ i was like ‘uh-oh,’ and then when ‘bah ba bah ba…’ comes along, alarm bells are ringing and i don’t want to listen to anything this guy has to offer. By the end, yeah there are some parts that could possibly be put together to create songs i could enjoy. Just not in this packaging, not with this tone and, most likely, not with this band. 3/10

Fair comments. I do like them a helluva lot more than that, but you are right, they were a band is was very ‘cool’ to like and tell people you liked, and to write articles about. The ‘cognoscenti’ for want of a better word, or intellectual/alternative music journalists used to, and probably still do, cream over this band. (Rolling Stone, Q, NME etc etc). Not so much in Kerrang though ;-) I’ll bet they are a regular staple on 6Music too.

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

I am enjoying these reviews, and I have come to the conclusion that the two camps here are those who are pro-music to dance/move to, and pro-music to sit down and really listen to. While we probably all like something of both, I get the sense that what we love is either one or the other. I’m generalizing and hyperbole-creating for effect, but it’s interesting.

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

Fair comments. I do like them a helluva lot more than that, but you are right, they were a band is was very ‘cool’ to like and tell people you liked, and to write articles about. The ‘cognoscenti’ for want of a better word, or intellectual/alternative music journalists used to, and probably still do, cream over this band. (Rolling Stone, Q, NME etc etc). Not so much in Kerrang though ;-) I’ll bet they are a regular staple on 6Music too.

They were cool once because they were unique and different at their inception and not many have sounded like them or did. And lyrically and vocally Byrne is an odd duck. Almost always a plus with critics and for good reason. Technical facility doesn’t matter much with art nor music to critics. Look at how beloved the Pistols or Ramones were/are by critics.