The Album Review Club - End of Round #9 Break (page 1904)

Listened to the first track, initial thoughts were not for me, things picked up and I have to say surprisingly I liked the most of the album.

‘hiding to nothing’ great track, I can see why Foggy likes this , it’s very reminiscent of the ‘Mats’ which is no bad thing!

Like others you can hear The Cure influences especially on ‘Ghost Gums’



It’s been a refreshing change from the previous two nominations of pleasant sounding albums, as Rob would say ‘it has a lot more grit’



So a very good pick from SB and a band I’d never heard of before.



a 6/10 from me
 
Mancitydoogle said:
Listened to the first track, initial thoughts were not for me, things picked up and I have to say surprisingly I liked the most of the album.

‘hiding to nothing’ great track, I can see why Foggy likes this , it’s very reminiscent of the ‘Mats’ which is no bad thing!

Like others you can hear The Cure influences especially on ‘Ghost Gums’



It’s been a refreshing change from the previous two nominations of pleasant sounding albums, as Rob would say ‘it has a lot more grit’



So a very good pick from SB and a band I’d never heard of before.



a 6/10 from me
Click to expand...

Someone go explain this supposed grit to me. Not just on this but more in general, but happy to use this as an example. What do you think/want 'grit' to be? And why is it needed.

To me, there is nothing at all gritty about this one. It is a highly polished album (thats not a criticism, think it is a good thing myself), that follows a formula (that could well be a criticism), that is compensated for by the singer sounding a bit Poguesy to inject some edge.

PS, glad i'm not alone in feeling the Cure vibes in this, probably the most interesting thing about it for me.
 
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Coatigan said:
Someone go explain this supposed grit to me. Not just on this but more in general, but happy to use this as an example. What do you think/want 'grit' to be? And why is it needed.

To me, there is nothing at all gritty about this one. It is a highly polished album (thats not a criticism, think it is a good thing myself), that follows a formula (that could well be a criticism), that is compensated for by the singer sounding a bit Poguesy to inject some edge.

PS, glad i'm not alone in feeling the Cure vibes in this, probably the most interesting thing about it for me.
Click to expand...
What’s this edge you speak of.
Is it anything like grit?
Or does the guitarist just play two notes over and over with a bit of echo. (Nothing to do with Bunnymen)
 
mancity2012_eamo said:
What’s this edge you speak of.
Is it anything like grit?
Or does the guitarist just play two notes over and over with a bit of echo. (Nothing to do with Bunnymen)
Click to expand...

The edge and bono went to a bar once. The bartender said, oh not you two again.
 
Coatigan said:
Someone go explain this supposed grit to me. Not just on this but more in general, but happy to use this as an example. What do you think/want 'grit' to be? And why is it needed.

To me, there is nothing at all gritty about this one. It is a highly polished album (thats not a criticism, think it is a good thing myself), that follows a formula (that could well be a criticism), that is compensated for by the singer sounding a bit Poguesy to inject some edge.

PS, glad i'm not alone in feeling the Cure vibes in this, probably the most interesting thing about it for me.
Click to expand...
To me, "grit" is the fact that either:-

1. There's some bite in the music (now you're going to ask me what "bite" is :) ). The guitar buzzes, or maybe it's just the sound of a plectrum hitting the strings of an acoustic guitar or mandolin. The point is, it sounds like somebody is standing in front of you playing the instrument rather than some preprogrammed box of electronics.
2. The lyrics make you stand up and take notice - its not just a repeat of every other song you've heard many times before.
3. Or maybe a bit of 1 and 2.

Production can be a great thing in music, enhancing the basics of a performance, but it can also be overdone so that any rough edges are rounded off and the music then loses it's primal appeal.

As I'm finding, it's a hard thing to express in words.

This is of course, all subjective. I generally prefer a bit of edge or grit in my music, but I do like plenty of smooth sounding 80s rock as well. Just because I like rougher edges doesn't mean I don't like smoother well produced music sometimes. and of course, I'm not saying that gritty music is better than smoother music - it's just what I prefer.

This latest Dogs at War is indeed a well produced album, but the sound has that bite that marks it out as "gritty" in my opinion.

Anyway, my selection for round #3 doesn't have too much grit musically, but a lot of grit and heart lyrically, so we'll see how that pans out!
 
RobMCFC said:
To me, "grit" is the fact that either:-

1. There's some bite in the music (now you're going to ask me what "bite" is :) ). The guitar buzzes, or maybe it's just the sound of a plectrum hitting the strings of an acoustic guitar or mandolin. The point is, it sounds like somebody is standing in front of you playing the instrument rather than some preprogrammed box of electronics.
2. The lyrics make you stand up and take notice - its not just a repeat of every other song you've heard many times before.
3. Or maybe a bit of 1 and 2.

Production can be a great thing in music, enhancing the basics of a performance, but it can also be overdone so that any rough edges are rounded off and the music then loses it's primal appeal.

As I'm finding, it's a hard thing to express in words.

This is of course, all subjective. I generally prefer a bit of edge or grit in my music, but I do like plenty of smooth sounding 80s rock as well. Just because I like rougher edges doesn't mean I don't like smoother well produced music sometimes. and of course, I'm not saying that gritty music is better than smoother music - it's just what I prefer.

This latest Dogs at War is indeed a well produced album, but the sound has that bite that marks it out as "gritty" in my opinion.

Anyway, my selection for round #3 doesn't have too much grit musically, but a lot of grit and heart lyrically, so we'll see how that pans out!
Click to expand...

Your second paragraph is probably somewhere along the lines of what I thought you meant. The rest, sorry, don't see that at all. There is a certain charm and quality to a raw and unpolished album, of course there is. It can also feel totally forced.

Generally I think many albums will have a point to them. And looking for what you (royal you) want to hear in them misses the point. This one is no exception, and it neither tries to be nor is gritty, in that sense. If we are associating 'angst' with grit, then yes this album has some elements of that for sure. Anyway what that album doesn't do for me, has nothing to do with it's level of production, which I wouldn't fault.
 
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