The Album Review Club - Week #141 - (page 1860) - JPEG Raw - Gary Clark Jr.

BimboBob said:
Josh Freese on live stuff. Mr G played all the drums on the album.
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Got an atricle or something that says that? I can believe it, but haven't seen that, and the one i read wasn't really clear
 
RobMCFC said:
Surrender – The Chemical Brothers

@BlueHammer85: Did you discover this lot before or after Dylan, The Beatles and Oasis?

When reviewing Leonard Cohen’s Death of a Ladies’ Man on this thread, I said that I had “utmost respect for anybody who can listen to this more than once. This is anti-music.” Well, I’ve saved myself the bother of thinking too much about what to write here because all of that applies again.

However, unlike Cohen’s effort, there’s no flat, dull singing, no embarrassing and misogynistic lyrics and no awful production! In fact, I even recognised and enjoyed (a relative term, obviously) the song “Let Forever Be”. There were a couple of moments in other song where I found myself thinking “that was a clever change of pace”.

Part of my dislike of this album is the lack of proper instruments and that “human performance element”. It’s undoubtedly a great technical achievement, but technological achievement is good in the space race, medical advances and home entertainment, but not in performance art. Obviously, the music comes first, but as I said before, I have to feel that what I’m listening to is from the artists’ heart and has that sense of a real performance with real instruments. There are the occasional “club” tracks that I like (e.g. the sensational Hey! Douglas track I posted above, or the Masterchef p***take by Swedemason) but the tracks on offer here didn’t hit anything like those heights.

A lot of the songs on this album remind me of the “music” that tossers play at two distinct volumes from their car windows (1. Far too loud and 2. Even louder). I have a thing about that, and I think it’s disrespectful. I’ll admit that that has also coloured my response to this album.

’m fine for people to listen to this in a club or at some festival, but if you want to listen to it outside of that, it should be confined to your headphones where you can’t bother anybody else.

I’m glad that I’ve enjoyed some of Blue Hammer’s other selections – I even gave The Smiths a six. But in this case, it’s better than the Leonard Cohen choice but worse than everything else that’s been nominated, so 3/10 it is.
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Totally get all this buddy.

I got into Chemical Brothers after Dylan/Oasis rock indie stage - Yet whilst this is considered dance I’d say there’s still pop element and alot of tracks here are more ambient than heavy.

Chemical Brothers, FatBoy Slim, The Prodigy are all dance pop music acts that I loved back in the late 90’s - although live they’re all pretty heavy to listen to I found it all soft enough back then.

Nowadays, don’t give dance music a chance. I’m mellowing.
 
I know the 'famous' Chemical Brothers (and Dust Brothers) tracks but had never listened to a full album. Not sure why, but maybe in the 90s there was so many bands producing so much interesting music you just didn't have time to listen to it all!

"Hey Boy Hey Girl" is the stand out track for me, it's just one of those tracks that everyone loves at a party. I was never keen on the Noel Gallagher track to be honest but it's still ok.

I quite like albums like this - there's nothing necessarily groundbreaking in it (although HBHG sounded quite novel at the time) but every track is good. It's also something different to the usual guitar-based albums we've had on here so it's nice to have a break from them! :)

I really enjoyed this album and whilst it's not a classic, it's a good one. I would love some more dance album nominations after hearing this.

7/10
 
Unsurprisingly dance ain’t ma thang. I recognised lots of this album from the ceiling shaking 20 odd years ago when my eldest used to play it at brain damaging volumes and then huff when I told him to turn the bloody stuff down. Despite that, I didn’t hate it on being reacquainted and can well understand it’s attraction for some. Hell I even owned a fat boy slim album once. 5/10.
 
Was always going to be a hard listen for me this pick.
Again surprisingly I had heard of one track before
Let forever be which I thought was very good and the last track Dream on my favourite.
The rest had their moments some nice beats but the title of the songs being repeated throughout annoying me more and more as it went on.
Cannot see me investing more time in this genre but surprisingly decent.6/10.
 
Interesting week and pick. Not my thing, never was. But gave it the full 3 listens, all the more so for knowing I'd not likely go back to it. Also, really struggled to stay off the skip button, if I am being honest. I'm always more of a split the album up rather than skip a song midway mindset, but one or two tracks here went against that.

It led to quite a lot of thoughts. Some of the 'what is music' has already been touched on, no need to repeat that. The other big one this had for me is sound quality and type, and how that affects experience. I agree with the comments this is probably completely different live. More than that, it has to be a dominant presence I think. I don't even think really good headphones are the answer, I think it really has to fill a room, to have the effect it goes for. The final one is age, and is one sometimes just too late to the party.

Some of it surprised me more than I expected. There are a few tracks I could get into and appreciate, like response and orange wedge. There are some skilfully put together stretches, some good rhythms, peaks and troughs. In the right mood, found it even uplifitng at times. Probably works better in smaller doses than as an album perhaps.

Normally I go for a 5 when something isn't my thing but I can see quality in it. I do feel the boldness of the nomination deserves a point in itself, so I'll go a 6.
 
Coatigan said:
Interesting week and pick. Not my thing, never was. But gave it the full 3 listens, all the more so for knowing I'd not likely go back to it. Also, really struggled to stay off the skip button, if I am being honest. I'm always more of a split the album up rather than skip a song midway mindset, but one or two tracks here went against that.

It led to quite a lot of thoughts. Some of the 'what is music' has already been touched on, no need to repeat that. The other big one this had for me is sound quality and type, and how that affects experience. I agree with the comments this is probably completely different live. More than that, it has to be a dominant presence I think. I don't even think really good headphones are the answer, I think it really has to fill a room, to have the effect it goes for. The final one is age, and is one sometimes just too late to the party.

Some of it surprised me more than I expected. There are a few tracks I could get into and appreciate, like response and orange wedge. There are some skilfully put together stretches, some good rhythms, peaks and troughs. In the right mood, found it even uplifitng at times. Probably works better in smaller doses than as an album perhaps.

Normally I go for a 5 when something isn't my thing but I can see quality in it. I do feel the boldness of the nomination deserves a point in itself, so I'll go a 6.
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As a matter of interest how old are you? I’m 60, so you can just reply with younger or older ;)
I’m just curious for the reasons behind your comment. I get that this genre of music would’ve perhaps been best experienced live in a club atmosphere, but I’m still listening to new stuff that attracts younger audiences even as a self confessed FOC.
Spookily I’ve just heard the new Pendulum single a band I referenced in my own score comments. I saw them live a few times in my 50s and had a great time. Yes I was slightly older than the average age but it was a great experience. The new single is great and hopefully there is an album and tour on the back of it.
A mate of mine gave up going to gigs because he felt too old which I found really sad. I do find generally that most crowds are accommodating of my zimmer frame and are careful not to step on my slippers!
 
GornikDaze said:
As a matter of interest how old are you? I’m 60, so you can just reply with younger or older ;)
I’m just curious for the reasons behind your comment. I get that this genre of music would’ve perhaps been best experienced live in a club atmosphere, but I’m still listening to new stuff that attracts younger audiences even as a self confessed FOC.
Spookily I’ve just heard the new Pendulum single a band I referenced in my own score comments. I saw them live a few times in my 50s and had a great time. Yes I was slightly older than the average age but it was a great experience. The new single is great and hopefully there is an album and tour on the back of it.
A mate of mine gave up going to gigs because he felt too old which I found really sad. I do find generally that most crowds are accommodating of my zimmer frame and are careful not to step on my slippers!
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It was more of a rhetorical question this led me to thinking about, than a point or a side. Similar to 'is it music'.
 
GornikDaze said:
As a matter of interest how old are you? I’m 60, so you can just reply with younger or older ;)
I’m just curious for the reasons behind your comment. I get that this genre of music would’ve perhaps been best experienced live in a club atmosphere, but I’m still listening to new stuff that attracts younger audiences even as a self confessed FOC.
Spookily I’ve just heard the new Pendulum single a band I referenced in my own score comments. I saw them live a few times in my 50s and had a great time. Yes I was slightly older than the average age but it was a great experience. The new single is great and hopefully there is an album and tour on the back of it.
A mate of mine gave up going to gigs because he felt too old which I found really sad. I do find generally that most crowds are accommodating of my zimmer frame and are careful not to step on my slippers!
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I'm 63 and I cannot think of any new band that I have followed the last 10 years.
Live music doesn't really interest me now.Lost interest after covid,some of the prices have not helped but again if say Wilco toured at a decent price I would go.
The prices for the Harry Styles,Beyonce and Springsteen concerts the other week was horrendous not that I was going to go to any of them.
 
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