The Album Review Club - Week #147 - (page 1942) - Blonde On Blonde - Bob Dylan

[mrbelfry]

I can neither deny or confirm my t-shirt material or level of fit but I'm pretty sure it's a 60/40 split between danceability and lyrics for me.

Btw I prefer Coatigan's characterisation of 'middle aged men' rather than your somewhat harsher one!

He's a much kinder person than me.

 

[Saddleworth2]

I’ve seen all sorts of acts that I wouldn’t have chosen to see for myself, mainly for my daughters; although I did go to see the Osmonds with my wife but there’s always been plenty of crossover on my wife and my musical tastes. You wouldn’t approve but The Who are er all-time favourite band. Mind you, my wife has stopped going to gigs.

I’ve taken the twins to see acts ranging from Miley Cyrus to One Direction and 5SoS; I also took them to see acts like AC/DC and Paul McCartney alongside the teeny stuff. They are 23 now so their tastes have changed somewhat and they can go see Harry Styles on their own. One of them did come to see Bruce on Thursday.

Michael Bubble actually was pretty good. I could appreciate the show he put on without falling in love with his music. On the other hand I saw Sir Tom Jones at Edinburgh Castle a few years ago and he was absolutely unbelievably good as were his band. I did stop short at throwing any underwear at him though (as did Mrs S).

 

[RobMCFC]

Inspired by the thread discussion I woke up a couple of hours ago and a weird thought popped into my head.... If something has melody, chords, recognisable time signatures etc does that confer on it some innate musical merit that will always warrant at least a few points? Statistically I'm in the top 3 most generous points awarders, so I'm probably subconsciously inclined towards buying into that kind of theory more than most I thought. I've only ever slaughtered one pick and that wasn't wholly for musical reasons.

Don't ask me why but I decided to stress test the theory by randomly picking and streaming a Chris De Burgh album (someone who gets vilified off the back of the one song of his that I know) based on the album covers. As it happened I picked something called Into The Light which turns out to be the album with his famous Lady In Red song. I managed to listen to 6 of the 12 tracks and I can report back this album had a variety of melodies, extensive use of chords and other musical devices but as far as I could discern no innate musical or artistic merit whatsoever that would warrant more than a 1 or 2. Admittedly it might have grown on me had I committed to 3 full listens, a sacrifice I wasn't willing to make.

So I'm not convinced that adherence to established musical norms (which after all are derived from a 250 year period of a specific type of tonal hegemony that we've all been chipping away at since the 1900s) is anywhere near the key criteria that I'm personally attaching weight to when I score the picks on here. In fact I'm pretty sure it's a relatively minor consideration for me.

Moreover having recently got my hands on the dataset for this thread I'm pretty sure I'm far from being the only one to whom that applies.

Some illustrative point that I meant to make in amongst my posts last night:

I would rather listen to bland acts like CDB, Take That, Simply Red, Backstreet Boys etc than somebody screaming or growling into the mic for 45 minutes.

I wouldn’t want to buy records by these artists, or see them live (actually, I have seen Simply Red live, for my wife, obviously) and I might scoff and berate people who said they like them. But listening to a bit of undemanding melody is OK with me.

Interestingly, those discussions in that bonus week were decisive in tipping me over to nominate this album.

I had wanted to, for ages, because I love it. But avoided it because I knew many here wouldn't. Those chats then meant there was plenty there to get into even if not liked. Which is partly why I was eagerly anticipating hearing @FogBlueInSanFran 's take here, having already laid the groundwork.

Fyi, he really did lose his daughter June. And his mother did have a stroke, and he did have a car crash etc. It is not 'marketing'.

I believe they use it, or at least have, for the best part of their existsnce as a band, as their own form of therapy through expression.

It happens to sell though, as you note. Doubt anywhere near as much as Radiohead, but enough to get noticed.

Partly, because the music is good (it is btw, polarising or not, the quality is undeniable and that is why it is rated). Partly as you said before, because it is 'different'. Although, you will know from some of the stuff I put on the playlist threads, different is not something I lack or crave, and is the least of my considerations here.

But mostly, I think it has found an audience because it resonates with a lot of people. Particularly dare I say it, middle aged and over men.

NOT in the sense they relate to their experiences as such. But more that they relate to the process. The 'healing' process that is, accepthing things, talking openly about them, displaying their vulnerability and wearing their heart on their sleeves.

That is what I think people aim for when they get past the singing style or noise of it. And the younger audiences are in it for the style, the intensity and the raw power of it, perhaps. It is clever in that way, you are right there. How deliberately intentional or consequently resultant that is, possibly too early to say.

Edit, will add, there are big parallels for me between them and Frightened Rabbit. Not musically as such, other than in the fact they both turned their back on convention and used music as a vehicle in their own way that suited them.

But in the relatability and resonating, they both hit the same nerves, strike the same chords (mentally and emotionally). The big difference is, FR tap into quite broad experiences in a looser way where audiences genuinely connect with their own experiences. Whereas Idles do the opposite, their themes are very specific and individual. Yet they connect in a similar way, through second or third hand understanding or appreciation of the effort.

If it works as therapy for the band, the that’s fair enough from their point of view. So maybe my comments about calculating are wide of the mark and I’ll retract them. In my defence, I wouldn’t have known any of that from listening to their songs though because the delivery makes me instantly want to disengage. To get to the stage of looking at lyric sheets, I have to feel a connection with the music and I feel that the band are creating a barrier for people like me.

Anyway, I won’t take up any more thread space (unless there are specific points to reply to) because it’s not my thing and to your credit, you are taking it in the right spirit. Like Saddleworth said, this thread works because people feel comfortable enough to give an honest review - none of us want people just saying they like something just to keep the peace.

 

[Coatigan]

He's a much kinder person than me.

Is he fuck!

 

[Coatigan]

Some illustrative point that I meant to make in amongst my posts last night:

I would rather listen to bland acts like CDB, Take That, Simply Red, Backstreet Boys etc than somebody screaming or growling into the mic for 45 minutes.

I wouldn’t want to buy records by these artists, or see them live (actually, I have seen Simply Red live, for my wife, obviously) and I might scoff and berate people who said they like them. But listening to a bit of undemanding melody is OK with me.


If it works as therapy for the band, the that’s fair enough from their point of view. So maybe my comments about calculating are wide of the mark and I’ll retract them. In my defence, I wouldn’t have known any of that from listening to their songs though because the delivery makes me instantly want to disengage. To get to the stage of looking at lyric sheets, I have to feel a connection with the music and I feel that the band are creating a barrier for people like me.

Anyway, I won’t take up any more thread space (unless there are specific points to reply to) because it’s not my thing and to your credit, you are taking it in the right spirit. Like Saddleworth said, this thread works because people feel comfortable enough to give an honest review - none of us want people just saying they like something just to keep the peace.

Totally agree. By extension of that, comments may merit and should get a response, whether it challenges it or backs it, and that is part of the interest and engagement of an album.

 

[LGWIO]

none of us want people just saying they like something just to keep the peace.

Surely thats this whole forum being honest about how they feel about the "European Royalty" that is Liverpool?

But back to this pick. From another listen on way back from work this morning I once again started thinking about the discussion from past selections about where this sits. With the delivery and what they are trying to do I wondered if this was "more punk" than either The Stranglers or The Adverts?..... Aided by the delivery of the vocals.

Not sure that this one would be a grower on many, more a marmite from the first listen.

 

[threespires]

Surely thats this whole forum being honest about how they feel about the "European Royalty" that is Liverpool?

Hmmm. On multiple occasions on this thread you've displayed prolonged periods of lucidity and even shown bouts of self awareness. So I know you say you support them but it doesn't quite stack up does it?... ;-)

 

[OB1]

Michael Bubble actually was pretty good. I could appreciate the show he put on without falling in love with his music. On the other hand I saw Sir Tom Jones at Edinburgh Castle a few years ago and he was absolutely unbelievably good as were his band. I did stop short at throwing any underwear at him though (as did Mrs S).

I’d expect both to be entertaining.

 

[Saddleworth2]

I’d expect both to be entertaining.

Tom and his band did a lot of blues stuff which was excellent. His voice is just amazing.

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

Apologies again for dipping in and out. Should be a bit easier to fit in some time for writing this coming week.

Re IDLES, @Coatigan’s advice to keep going when the song gets hard is very good advice IMO.

The Stranglers nostalgia-drenched score annoyed me by the way. May have to toss in a few words about that one too.