The Album Review Club - Week #145 - (page 1923) - Tellin' Stories - The Charlatans

RobMCFC said:
Don't forget the lumberjack shirts (or "flannel" shirts as some call them).
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Tbh I don't really have a problem with a broader aesthetic being part of a sub-culture or genre but it's pretty rare that that sort of thing doesn't quickly turn into a purely commercial opportunity for someone.

The conversation I ended up having with elder money pit was actually quite a sensible one once I'd calmed down. (Didn't get off to a great start when I walked in to find that 'finish yours maths homework please' can apparently be interpreted as spend the evening pissing about with a soldering iron and a Cry Baby that doesn't even belong to you).

We were talking about 'shoegaze' and got onto a broader discussion about whether applying particular types of effects or sounds and mining a particular approach to composition was enough for something to be a genre or not. Fundamentally I'm basically of the view that there's at most maybe a handful of variants of rock that it's useful to have names for and thats that. If you've got a bit of kit then you can overlay whatever aural style you like over them them but that's nothing to do with genre. But then I also think a modelling amp like a Mustang is more than adequate to fanny about with sounds. He thinks I'm a philistine of the highest (lowest?) order. Doesn't seem to stop him nicking my stuff though.
 
Haven’t done a review in an age.
Haven’t really been around the music threads in an age.
I feel reviewing this while at the same time being the host this week for the newly formulated playlist thread is probably unfair, on both this album and myself.
I find my time being split and to be fair to this thread I really think you have to give the album a proper go. Minimum three listens.
So I’ll give my initial thoughts and hopefully get back to it to give a score as well.
Firstly, Pearl Jam if they are grunge, were one of those bands that, as a music listeners who greatly favours guitar heavy outfits, I took to.
The genre didn’t particularly blow me away, but I appreciated where it was bringing music back to.
There were standout tracks from a lot of bands but in general I always found too much of it, very samey.

So far with this album, I’m firmly in the @RobMCFC camp with his review.
There are a few tracks, including the opening one, that I’m drawn to.
Jeremy, I always found appealing without really wowing me.Alive is very good too, but none of it absolutely wows me.

There is nothing about this album that would put me off listening to it.
There are some really tasty guitar breaks in it that I’m taking to.
His voice which I initially liked for its uniqueness is worrying me though.
I’m not sure that a whole album of it won’t lose it’s appeal.

That’s enough for now. I’m finding it in keeping with my opinion of what ‘grunge’ bands were, supposedly, at that time.
Very listenable but in danger of becoming a bit of drudgery. It’s a fine line.
 
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threespires said:
I have no idea whether this is going to be relevant to the conversation on what grunge is or isn't (and as a clueless I await with interest) but a couple of nights ago I had a 'healthy discussion' with elder son about cadging money for pedals and our differing views on the necessity of certain bits of kit for specific 'genres' he wants to dabble with. I expressed the opinion that at the point where you supposedly need a specific big muff variant or an md-500 or [insert one of a thousand other bits of kit on the wishlist] to play a genre then it's not a genre it's just a marketing ploy.

This is a round about way of saying that if it turns out that grunge is basically a combination of angsty lyrics playing softly for a bit and then wazzing a shit load of distortion onto the chorus then I'm going to be very disappointed and I won't be buying that it constitutes a genre :-)
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Interesting..
 
threespires said:
Tbh I don't really have a problem with a broader aesthetic being part of a sub-culture or genre but it's pretty rare that that sort of thing doesn't quickly turn into a purely commercial opportunity for someone.

The conversation I ended up having with elder money pit was actually quite a sensible one once I'd calmed down. (Didn't get off to a great start when I walked in to find that 'finish yours maths homework please' can apparently be interpreted as spend the evening pissing about with a soldering iron and a Cry Baby that doesn't even belong to you).

We were talking about 'shoegaze' and got onto a broader discussion about whether applying particular types of effects or sounds and mining a particular approach to composition was enough for something to be a genre or not. Fundamentally I'm basically of the view that there's at most maybe a handful of variants of rock that it's useful to have names for and thats that. If you've got a bit of kit then you can overlay whatever aural style you like over them them but that's nothing to do with genre. But then I also think a modelling amp like a Mustang is more than adequate to fanny about with sounds. He thinks I'm a philistine of the highest (lowest?) order. Doesn't seem to stop him nicking my stuff though.
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Hmm, interesting..
 
threespires said:
You're going to produce a post now where I make a distinction between chicago blues and swap blues aren't you, you bastard? ;-)

(But I have an answer for that!)
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Ha no. I do find it interesting. As someone who has previously bemoaned the multitude of sub-genres whose names I couldn't keep up with, I do think there is a place for distinction where it is merited. But for its raison d'etre, and the commercial benefits, it is an interesting take. As someone who has often argued that MTV ruined quite a few genres by repackaging them to sell to larger audience bases, there is something in that, for sure.

I think you are loading it a bit, and probably will end up disappointed though, when it comes to just how much distinction you want in a genre.
 
Coatigan said:
Ha no. I do find it interesting. As someone who has previously bemoaned the multitude of sub-genres whose names I couldn't keep up with, I do think there is a place for distinction where it is merited. But for its raison d'etre, and the commercial benefits, it is an interesting take. As someone who has often argued that MTV ruined quite a few genres by repackaging them to sell to larger audience bases, there is something in that, for sure.

I think you are loading it a bit, and probably will end up disappointed though, when it comes to just how much distinction you want in a genre.
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Yeah, my "I'll be disappointed if.." comment was a little bit tongue in cheek but I will genuinely be interested in any discussion there is on what is or isn't grunge, especially in relation to this weeks album which is after all the matter in hand.

I was winding my eldest up by pointing out that (older) bands he was describing as 'shoegaze' can't possibly be shoegaze because the term didn't exist at the time they were making music and if the term wasn't needed then it's not needed now. He wasn't buying my logic :-)

I'm trying to think when we moved to a myriad of sub-genres, I wonder if edm was the initial culprit?
 
threespires said:
Yeah, my "I'll be disappointed if.." comment was a little bit tongue in cheek but I will genuinely be interested in any discussion there is on what is or isn't grunge, especially in relation to this weeks album which is after all the matter in hand.

I was winding my eldest up by pointing out that (older) bands he was describing as 'shoegaze' can't possibly be shoegaze because the term didn't exist at the time they were making music and if the term wasn't needed then it's not needed now. He wasn't buying my logic :-)

I'm trying to think when we moved to a myriad of sub-genres, I wonder if edm was the initial culprit?
Click to expand...
Are you calling this stuff shoegaze?
I’m confused.
I had that down as My Bloody Valentine kind of stuff. No audience interaction kind of stuff.
 
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