The Album Review Club - Week #195 (page 1310) - A New World Record - ELO

GornikDaze said:
I was expecting worse ;) apologies for ruining your first week of retirement.
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"Ruining"? I think Foggy sometimes relishes to come out with his red marker, and if you can't do it at work, you might as well get the opportunity time to time to do it here. He should be thanking you. ;-)

I've got my eye on him now to see how much more engrossed he gets in the reviews here, should that even be possible! ;-)

We should congratulate you for giving him something to rail on this week. I'm glad he passed the "Dancing Days" test too, because during my week of retirement, they will be "here again"!
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
Ha ha — we’ve had far worse than this! Plus not even Sleep Token could ruin the first week of retirement! Speaking of, it’s nice to get some sleep after 25 years of 4 am wake-up calls!
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I have it under good authority that the EPL will not be adjusting match times to fit your retired schedule, so Saturday 4am wake ups are occasionally still on your menu, but hopefully more enjoyment there than the more regular office calls.
 
RobMCFC said:
I wonder how many years it will be before the working/retired balance will be tipped in this thread?
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3.5yrs for me and it cannot come a day too soon. I thank god (fowler that is) for my incredible wisdom in "buying" 4 added years service when I first started to allow me to go at 60. @FogBlueInSanFran a wise man to go as soon as you could. A guy I worked with did 47yrs in the job and keeled over 6 months after retirement. So enjoy family, enjoy freedom, enjoy music every single day you can.
 
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
I have it under good authority that the EPL will not be adjusting match times to fit your retired schedule, so Saturday 4am wake ups are occasionally still on your menu, but hopefully more enjoyment there than the more regular office calls.
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They are a pleasure . . . and sometimes I go to bed directly afterwards anyhow.

What is really nice is the midweek non-PL matches that are at 20:00 UK (including in 48 hours or so). Now I can be at my local for all of them at lunchtime instead of my desk. As I will be Thursday.
 
LGWIO said:
3.5yrs for me and it cannot come a day too soon. I thank god (fowler that is) for my incredible wisdom in "buying" 4 added years service when I first started to allow me to go at 60. @FogBlueInSanFran a wise man to go as soon as you could. A guy I worked with did 47yrs in the job and keeled over 6 months after retirement. So enjoy family, enjoy freedom, enjoy music every single day you can.
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I may go six months (or sooner) afterwards too — you never know! So trying to enjoy as much as I can for as long as I can!
 
BlueHammer85 said:
I’m 40 soon, can you all club together so I can retire early and concentrate on album reviews.
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Just think of how many albums you will have listened to in those 35 years you have left before you can retire.

Well as things stand anyway, but they keep going the way they have been you may only be half way there!
 
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@threespires - I've got a busy afternoon from 1PM, including a visit to the dentists, so feel free to start posting your clues any time after 2.00PM, and I'll do the round-up later.
 
Coatigan said:
Out of genuine interest, do you (or did you, given your retirement) work in an industry where originality matters, happens, or is common or unlikely.

Not in any way a dig, this is a very interesting discussion, and I am curious what prism people see the topic through.
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Originality in music I think is overrated and in fact I think can be sometimes detrimental to enjoyment. Your brain rewards you with happy chemicals when you successfully predict something and chords and melodies etc normally get resolved because it's satisfying. Sometimes the brain can respond positively to surprises ie syncopation or swing but these are still standard techniques.

Originality happens rarely and normally starts as as a sub culture which then quickly establishes genre tropes and expectations.

In a purely hyperbolic situation imagine whatever your favourite song is. Now imagine every time the band played it they changed the melody, the lyrics and the tempo. It would be disconcerting
 
BimboBob said:
It's not all it cracks up to be. Take this morning, I had to set a bloody alarm for 7am...an alarm!! Who uses those things these days?
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No, I can imagine. It's one of the reasons that I'm enjoying a "retirement" (aka holidays every few weeks) whilst I am still working full time. That way I get to enjoy them whilst I am relatively healthy and can still afford them.

I can't imagine anything worse than retiring and then having no money to spend to do anything. I think a gradual drop to 4 and then 3 days a week before full retirement is the way to go.
 
mrbelfry said:
Originality in music I think is overrated and in fact I think can be sometimes detrimental to enjoyment. Your brain rewards you with happy chemicals when you successfully predict something and chords and melodies etc normally get resolved because it's satisfying. Sometimes the brain can respond positively to surprises ie syncopation or swing but these are still standard techniques.

Originality happens rarely and normally starts as as a sub culture which then quickly establishes genre tropes and expectations.

In a purely hyperbolic situation imagine whatever your favourite song is. Now imagine every time the band played it they changed the melody, the lyrics and the tempo. It would be disconcerting
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I agree. In order to be truly original, you have to do something outlandish, which roughly translates to "not very listenable".
 
RobMCFC said:
No, I can imagine. It's one of the reasons that I'm enjoying a "retirement" (aka holidays every few weeks) whilst I am still working full time. That way I get to enjoy them whilst I am relatively healthy and can still afford them.

I can't imagine anything worse than retiring and then having no money to spend to do anything. I think a gradual drop to 4 and then 3 days a week before full retirement is the way to go.
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You are right, that's the way I went, although due to my "illness" it was kind of forced on me. Still, now it's official it gives me the chance to do all kinds of things, including getting up at silly o'clock this morning as I'm on a dig.
 
mrbelfry said:
Originality in music I think is overrated and in fact I think can be sometimes detrimental to enjoyment. Your brain rewards you with happy chemicals when you successfully predict something and chords and melodies etc normally get resolved because it's satisfying. Sometimes the brain can respond positively to surprises ie syncopation or swing but these are still standard techniques.

Originality happens rarely and normally starts as as a sub culture which then quickly establishes genre tropes and expectations.

In a purely hyperbolic situation imagine whatever your favourite song is. Now imagine every time the band played it they changed the melody, the lyrics and the tempo. It would be disconcerting
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A neuro existentialist might argue that it's actually the struggle against our wiring that makes us fully human.
 
RobMCFC said:
No, I can imagine. It's one of the reasons that I'm enjoying a "retirement" (aka holidays every few weeks) whilst I am still working full time. That way I get to enjoy them whilst I am relatively healthy and can still afford them.

I can't imagine anything worse than retiring and then having no money to spend to do anything. I think a gradual drop to 4 and then 3 days a week before full retirement is the way to go.
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As a man who has ballsed up any chance of his own early retirement mostly by my own doing, this discussion is putting me in the mood to swap this afternoon's nomination to another album by The Streets :-))
 
mrbelfry said:
Originality in music I think is overrated and in fact I think can be sometimes detrimental to enjoyment. Your brain rewards you with happy chemicals when you successfully predict something and chords and melodies etc normally get resolved because it's satisfying. Sometimes the brain can respond positively to surprises ie syncopation or swing but these are still standard techniques.

Originality happens rarely and normally starts as as a sub culture which then quickly establishes genre tropes and expectations.

In a purely hyperbolic situation imagine whatever your favourite song is. Now imagine every time the band played it they changed the melody, the lyrics and the tempo. It would be disconcerting
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Yes and no. Depends on the person I guess. I happen to get excited by various versions of my favourite songs. And covers. Whether I like them or not, depends on the delivery but it is something I value. And covers too, I am all for covers by others and different takes on songs. I do also very much like things that test or break the norm. Many of the albums I like or have nominated have been for that very reason. What blew me away was that they sounded new or different, at the time. Some have aged better than others, some were never as good as better well known albums, but they meant something to me because they moved me in ways other albums couldn't.

And I think we all have a bit of both, and it varies when things click, depending on timing, mood etc. As we can see by people's comments and nominations, including your own.

Edit. Fully agree on the genre tropes and inevitable fate of spontaneous originality. Said as much myself previously.
 
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Coatigan said:
Yes and no. Depends on the person I guess. I happen to get excited by various versions of my favourite songs. And covers. Whether I like them or not, depends on the delivery but it is something I value. And covers too, I am all for covers by others and different takes on songs. I do also very much like things that test or break the norm. Many of the albums I like or have nominated have been for that very reason. What blew me away was that they sounded new or different, at the time. Some have aged better than others, some were never as good as better well known albums, but they meant something to me because they moved me in ways other albums couldn't.

And I think we all have a bit of both, and it varies when things click, depending on timing, mood etc. As we can see by people's comments and nominations, including your own.
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Well coincidentally from 2.30pm onwards most of the thread will be getting an opportunity to see how well their brains neuroplasticity can adapt to alien forms of music. Not you though!
 
threespires said:
As a man who has ballsed up any chance of his own early retirement mostly by my own doing, this discussion is putting me in the mood to swap this afternoon's nomination to another album by The Streets :-))
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By not transferring your pot through the multiple jobs over the years?

threespires said:
A neuro existentialist might argue that it's actually the struggle against our wiring that makes us fully human.
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I was going to.. but almost too easy!
 
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