The Album Review Club - Week #193 (page 1300) - East Side Story - Squeeze

Saddleworth2 said:
Maybe. Albeit I put that bullet first for a reason.
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I get that and I think you are far from alone in this. At the point I joined this thread I'd probably have said I was quite self-aware about my tastes in music but participating has made me realise that I am much more rhythmically focused than I ever realised I was. But then as a child my mum would despair that I had 'ants in my pants' and as an adult a very well paid presentation coach gave up trying to get me to keep a bit stiller, so these maybe should have told me something!
 
threespires said:
I get that and I think you are far from alone in this. At the point I joined this thread I'd probably have said I was quite self-aware about my tastes in music but participating has made me realise that I am much more rhythmically focused than I ever realised I was. But then as a child my mum would despair that I had 'ants in my pants' and as an adult a very well paid presentation coach gave up trying to get me to keep a bit stiller, so these maybe should have told me something!
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I wouldn't say I was particularly self aware albeit this thread has helped a little. Maybe living in Yorkshire had an influence- 'I know what I like and I like what I know' ;-)

I am drawn to melodic, harmonic, 'clever' stuff - think 10cc and Prefab Sprout as examples of albums I have put up for review. Punk has grown on me over the decades but when first appeared I really disliked it. Maybe in 30 years time I will like hip-hop.
 
Coatigan said:
The scenes, when I end up giving this a 9 or an 8!

I don't get it. The vitriol that is, the scores I can get. Sure, don't expect it to wow or move people, particularly if you have a set narrow defined prism fragment through which you view music. But I struggle to get something this light hearted and kinda fun angers you.

I have enjoyed the mood it has put me in, the bravery of the choice also deserves kudos, so there's 2 bonus points straight off the bat!
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Narrow minded. If it don't sound like prog rock then it's bobbins. They've missed the Rush samples...
 
RobMCFC said:
I'm with @denislawsbackheel on this one - he summarised it nicely: It is the antithesis of music.
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Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, but I think this one kind of insults the intelligence of a lot of people who have contributed to this thread for a long time.

This record being the antithesis of what the two of you like in music is one thing, and you point to that.

But the antithesis of music itself? That’s quite another thing, and not a hill anyone should want to die on.
 
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mrbelfry said:
After the early few listens I did wonder how this stacked up to it's contemporaries and in particular the vocal "flow" as it felt abit unmusical. It certainly doesn't have the same kind of energy as something like Paul's Boutique by the Beastie Boys or It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back by Public Enemy but it is also less aggravating.
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I don’t think Paul’s Boutique is aggravating in the least, and frankly I think it’s actually pretty laconic vs. energetic. License to Ill is aggravating though — and a hell of lot more sophomoric than this (also much funnier). Nation of Millions is completely aggravating.

The reason that Nation of Millions and L2I are aggravating is because they are punk records. Which is what makes them so fucking good.
 
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threespires said:
I would respectfully argue that outside of the first of those bullets the others are there but for whatever reason you are not hearing them. I'll structure my eventual review along those bullet points and we'll see if I can persuade you a tiny bit ! :-) @mrbelfry has already spoken to some of them in his review too.
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They are stealing (Borrowing? Sampling? Utilizing?) already classic melodies! How can something not be melodic if the grooves are laced with the already-melodic? Now one may not LIKE that they are sampling. Or maybe one doesn’t like those melodies . . .
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
I don’t think Paul’s Boutique is aggravating in the least, and frankly I think it’s actually pretty laconic vs. energetic. License to Ill is aggravating though — and a hell of lot more sophomoric than this (also much funnier). Nation of Millions is completely aggravating.

The reason that Nation of Millions and L2I are aggravating is because they are punk records. Which is what makes them so fucking good.
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Paul's Boutique at the time was classed as a failure, but winding the clock forward is a masterpiece by fans and contemparies alike
 
mrbelfry said:
I would say 2, 3 and 5 scores highly for me with this album. But if it doesn't connect then it doesn't connect. If you don't appreciate the art of sampling though you may argue about some of the points but I'd suggest strongly it should at least score highly in the musical innovation department.
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It’s not that I’m against sampling. In fact my favourite album of all time has examples of it. In fact I have just finished the write up for it for 1985.
I'm going to listen to this album again at least once with a less grumpy mindset. I will either revise my score or justify it.
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
I don’t think Paul’s Boutique is aggravating in the least, and frankly I think it’s actually pretty laconic vs. energetic. License to Ill is aggravating though — and a hell of lot more sophomoric than this (also much funnier). Nation of Millions is completely aggravating.

The reason that Nation of Millions and L2I are aggravating is because they are punk records. Which is what makes them so fucking good.
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Vocally the beasties are much more assertive than De la Soul. They are a bit shoutier and whinier
 
Not my cup of tea and found the actual group musically not very good.
However most of the songs had samples of other songs ( I hope lol) which I found a lot better than the group musically.
So a 5 from me due to the samples keeping my interest all the way through and trying to work out the records they came from.
 
bennyboy said:
Not my cup of tea and found the actual group musically not very good.
However most of the songs had samples of other songs ( I hope lol) which I found a lot better than the group musically.
So a 5 from me due to the samples keeping my interest all the way through and trying to work out the records they came from.
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There’s a Spotify playlist that tries to list them all — it’s like 4 1/2 hours long!
 
By definition, Hip hop music is only supposed to be samples and segments from other songs. The New Yorkers who originated Hip hop never envisioned artists would be going into studios to record songs to be released, it was never conceived to be anything more than street music for fun.

They started it all as part of Summertime street parties, where they’d connect a set of decks and speakers up to the electricity supply coming from a street light to play some funk and disco songs for the parties. Over time, that turned into people improvising with scratching and repeating a break’s beat from funk songs and maybe a sample from a soul or jazz song on the other deck over the break, often with an emcee toasting over the top of the combined breaks and samples.

It could be argued that original beats and melodies done by artists for this type of music is not true Hip hop. But there are lots of original stuff done from the likes of Rza who’d play the drums himself and use instruments and synthesisers for his own and Wu Tang’s music (although he too did sample breaks and melodies).
 
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FogBlueInSanFran said:
They are stealing (Borrowing? Sampling? Utilizing?) already classic melodies! How can something not be melodic if the grooves are laced with the already-melodic? Now one may not LIKE that they are sampling. Or maybe one doesn’t like those melodies . . .
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All music is sampling. Even the very first human to ever utter a single melodic or rhythmic bar, was sampling sounds heard in nature.
 
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