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

I recently returned from a big boys fishing trek and sharing the car with others needed an impressive play list to keep them awake/inspired/amused.

I put together 2. This threads top 10 albums and a playlist 11-20 from the chart on page 1.
I am now considered the coolest kid in town as each playlist was considered full of fantastic music and wonderfully varied. Favourites from the trip were JJ Cale, Frightened Rabbit, Rodriquez along with the more familiar Beatles, Stones and Thin Lizzy.
Least favourite were King Crimson and Rush. ( just not the right audience).

Far better than the usual shite that gets inflicted on my ears. Queens greatest hits indeed.

Blue moon - influencing musical tastes in the land and all the world.
 
threespires said:
We're not even a day into this pick and it's doing my head in. Not the album itself which has some merits if you park it's cynicism and lack of authenticity. But because I've been reminded of the absolute torrent of garbage that is written about it and the associated baggage that comes with it; such as unanswerable questions like why is Jonny Greenwood lauded to the heavens when someone like Dominic Miller is ignored? Why do people say the lyrics and themes are prescient or profound but when you ask them to explain a bit more they can't actually articulate any proper detail? Why can't Thom Yorke be arsed to follow an idea through to a cogent conclusion? When did absorbing a few influences and bringing them together sometimes successfully sometimes not, constitute "reinventing rock"? I don't hate this album (at least not for purely musical reasons) but I do hate all the arseholes with a 2:2 in English Lit from Keele or wherever, who wrote rainforests worth of total shite about it.

It's put me in a foul enough mood to score it now. If I was scoring this purely as a few pieces of music I'd probably give it a 6 maybe a 5 because theres some interesting ideas on it with some decent playing; but i've been told plenty of times this is in effect an important piece of art. So it's getting scored as such and it's getting compared in terms of it's intent and execution against the likes of Guernica. And on that basis it's getting 1/10 because it's devoid of any artistic integrity.

Gonna go and listen to the playlist as I really do need to chill out now.
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So it gets a 5 musically but then you've paid attention to all the detritus surrounding the album/ band and given it a 1/10.

That's probably a bit worse than having a 2:2 from Keele.
 
Saddleworth2 said:
I recently returned from a big boys fishing trek and sharing the car with others needed an impressive play list to keep them awake/inspired/amused.

I put together 2. This threads top 10 albums and a playlist 11-20 from the chart on page 1.
I am now considered the coolest kid in town as each playlist was considered full of fantastic music and wonderfully varied. Favourites from the trip were JJ Cale, Frightened Rabbit, Rodriquez along with the more familiar Beatles, Stones and Thin Lizzy.
Least favourite were King Crimson and Rush. ( just not the right audience).

Far better than the usual shite that gets inflicted on my ears. Queens greatest hits indeed.

Blue moon - influencing musical tastes in the land and all the world.
Click to expand...
Just wait until we (hopefully) win the league on Sunday. Considering the rich musical heritage of this city, it beggars belief some of the utter shite that comes out of the stadium speakers.
 
Saddleworth2 said:
I recently returned from a big boys fishing trek and sharing the car with others needed an impressive play list to keep them awake/inspired/amused.

I put together 2. This threads top 10 albums and a playlist 11-20 from the chart on page 1.
I am now considered the coolest kid in town as each playlist was considered full of fantastic music and wonderfully varied. Favourites from the trip were JJ Cale, Frightened Rabbit, Rodriquez along with the more familiar Beatles, Stones and Thin Lizzy.
Least favourite were King Crimson and Rush. ( just not the right audience).

Far better than the usual shite that gets inflicted on my ears. Queens greatest hits indeed.

Blue moon - influencing musical tastes in the land and all the world.
Click to expand...
As an additional comment to my earlier answer, I feel like I've learned a lot by getting stuck into the music threads on here these last few years.

Whilst I still have my favourites and inherent biases, I have listened to some wonderful new (actually old!) music.

I always used to have the feeling that if I missed something in years gone by, I wasn't too interested now - I would always concentrate on albums released in the last year or two, trying to pick up genuinely new music every year.

However, I spend a lot of time listening to stuff recommended or posted on here, whether it's from the 70s, 80s or 90s or any decade.

Even when I don't like an album, at least I can say I have listened to it, and each new listen helps to put my own favourites into some kind of context.
 
RobMCFC said:
As an additional comment to my earlier answer, I feel like I've learned a lot by getting stuck into the music threads on here these last few years.

Whilst I still have my favourites and inherent biases, I have listened to some wonderful new (actually old!) music.

I always used to have the feeling that if I missed something in years gone by, I wasn't too interested now - I would always concentrate on albums released in the last year or two, trying to pick up genuinely new music every year.

However, I spend a lot of time listening to stuff recommended or posted on here, whether it's from the 70s, 80s or 90s or any decade.

Even when I don't like an album, at least I can say I have listened to it, and each new listen helps to put my own favourites into some kind of context.
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It has certainly broadened my musical palette Rob and I’m sure you have all our thanks for facilitating that.
 
BimboBob said:
So it gets a 5 musically but then you've paid attention to all the detritus surrounding the album/ band and given it a 1/10.

That's probably a bit worse than having a 2:2 from Keele.
Click to expand...

Fair comment and I unreservedly apologise to any Keele alumni irrespective of course or classification. I've paid attention to all the detritus round this album because i'm of the view they are complicit with it part of the package. Also this is regularly touted as one of the greatest albums ever made, ie an important cultural artifact so I'm judging it as such.

Plenty of people have said on this thread that they can see why someone else would like an album but they don't personally want to listen to it and that's the basis they've scored it on. Why should this be any different?
 
I think Rob has been very clever here. He’s thrown in the R bomb in a week when football wise we could (arguably should) go on to create more history. We beat spurs on Tuesday so everyone (with at least a couple of notable exceptions) is on a high and in a jolly mood. We can chat about Radiohead with all jocularity and no fighting. If (god forbid) things turn sour on Sunday I predict this thread to get toxic very quickly!! :)
Don’t forget he’s also played the wildcard card - I think he just mischief making and wanted to nominate it himself ;)
 
I like OK Computer. But I've never regarded it as highly as the Bends. Probably because it takes real listening to be appreciated. There's depth to the songs and lyrics and a lot of tracks that can just pass you by unless you are actively seeking to appreciate them. They're good, don't get me wrong, but the Bends has far more that captures you. I think the sign of a great album is one that captures you, and everyone will get that in different ways. You can sort of float through OK Computer, captured by certain songs but have others play through without always "hearing" them.

That doesn't happen with the Bends for me.

As for the wider opinions of them, I find that all quite laughable. You don't have to be working class to produce art for the working classes. This challenges the systems more than the individual. It is about the despair suffered by all of us rather than one of us. It isn't just the working class who suffer from the themes of working class music. If you look at a rich kid and a poor kid largely they do and feel the same things, just in different places.
 
First heard OK computer when I was on a lads holiday in Kavos back in the day.
After a night on the piss, a lounge around around the pool, we'd go back to room and crash for a few hours listening to music before going back out.
This was one of the go to albums that got played.
Absolutely loved it then and still do now.
Even though I think there's better songs on The Bends like Black Star, Street Spirit etc, OK computer is a better album, purely in the way the songs flow together, and the highs and lows of each song etc.
One of the few albums I can never listen to on shuffle, as I think it's loses something. After kid A radio head lost their appeal to me
Ok Computer - Great album 9/10
 
threespires said:
Fair comment and I unreservedly apologise to any Keele alumni irrespective of course or classification. I've paid attention to all the detritus round this album because i'm of the view they are complicit with it part of the package. Also this is regularly touted as one of the greatest albums ever made, ie an important cultural artifact so I'm judging it as such.

Plenty of people have said on this thread that they can see why someone else would like an album but they don't personally want to listen to it and that's the basis they've scored it on. Why should this be any different?
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Because you've actually listened to it and given it a musical score of around 6, or maybe 5. And then because other people have claimed it to be one of the greatest albums ever and an important cultural artifact you've decided to disagree and mark your score down accordingly.

Why not just listen to the album, decide with your own ears if you like it, and then score it without prejudice?
 
BimboBob said:
Because you've actually listened to it and given it a musical score of around 6, or maybe 5. And then because other people have claimed it to be one of the greatest albums ever and an important cultural artifact you've decided to disagree and mark your score down accordingly.

Why not just listen to the album, decide with your own ears if you like it, and then score it without prejudice?
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Listen without prejudice, now that was a great album.
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
How can a 9/10 record have songs you skip? You skip 17% of the tunes!

This is kind of my point about "overrated". At the least, it seems grade inflation.

If this is how I scored records, I have like 683 10/10s.

Sorry mate -- I don't mean to be harsh. Maybe it's just me, but any record with songs I'd skip is a 7 at best.
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I disagree. On the scoring, not on the album (at this point in time). One man's 7 is another man's 9 and all that. We never really defined how we score, but albums aren't maths, and one amazing song amongst a bunch of skippable ones can outweigh 10 ok to listen to without skipping songs, that don't shake you to the core.
 
Saddleworth2 said:
So should they have a) written songs about surfing or b) recorded the album in a drug den and given all their proceeds to a charity for fallen teens?
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Yes and yes because then a) the record would be about something and b) they’d be doing something positive instead of pretending they are sad for money.
 
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BimboBob said:
Because you've actually listened to it and given it a musical score of around 6, or maybe 5. And then because other people have claimed it to be one of the greatest albums ever and an important cultural artifact you've decided to disagree and mark your score down accordingly.

Why not just listen to the album, decide with your own ears if you like it, and then score it without prejudice?
Click to expand...
Because someone else who skips 17% of the songs on the record gave it a 9 is maybe why. Hard to blame him.
 
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