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

[Coatigan]

Joy has a bunch of great songs but Crawler has more texture and doom sounds. I think in Crawler you can hear a lot of what they've been doing on previous albums become more coherent as they've become better at it. I do like the immediacy of some of the early bangers but they obviously spend a lot of time crafting a vibe. Ultra Mono is for me a slightly better album but I don't think many would agree with me - it's probably more consistent good without quite hitting the highs of Car Crash and Beachland Ballroom (two songs I don't think I'll ever tire of listening to) although Grounds and A Hymn run them close (both pairs have a lot of similarities)

My opinion on their simple outlook is I do find it a bit cringy at times. I always try and look for nuance and perspective however that can sometimes lead to nothing changing. Sometimes you do have to just draw a line in the sand and say this should be different and not really worry about the nuance.

For me Joy and UM are collections of good songs. The songs might even be better, but Crawler is a proper album. I am still not that impressed by Tangk, think it is their weakest to date, and I think they are struggling trying to unnecessarily keep themselves reinvented.

 

[mrbelfry]

For me Joy and UM are collections of good songs. The songs might even be better, but Crawler is a proper album. I am still not that impressed by Tangk, think it is their weakest to date, and I think they are struggling trying to unnecessarily keep themselves reinvented.

I think Tangk is their best made album but I think has lost a bit of their hardcore rawness. I think the reinvention is slightly overstated though and one of the reasons why Tangk doesn't quite hit is that they have better variations of some of the songs on previous albums and it doesn't have big crowd pleaserd like on Brutalism and Joy so it feels more mature and slower as a consequence.

There is still a lot I enjoy about it and it's in my opinion their most consistent album. Nigel Godrich produced this and a bunch of Radiohead and I think you can definitely hear his influence in IDEA 01, A Gospel and Grace particularly. As a big Radiohead fan I'm here for that. I think none of Tangk would appear on a top 10 IDLES chart but I'm always surprised about how much I enjoy the songs when I'm listening to. In fact just having a quick skim listen as I'm typing this and I do really enjoy some of the textures of the more atmospheric stuff. I think I could definitely enjoy an IDLES album that had more stuff on it like IDEA 01 and Monolith but there would definitely be an edge missing that most fans would miss.

Really enjoyed talking about them this week. They are comfortably in my top 10 bands. Going to go wash the pots and watch this

 

[Coatigan]

I think Tangk is their best made album but I think has lost a bit of their hardcore rawness. I think the reinvention is slightly overstated though and one of the reasons why Tangk doesn't quite hit is that they have better variations of some of the songs on previous albums and it doesn't have big crowd pleaserd like on Brutalism and Joy so it feels more mature and slower as a consequence.

There is still a lot I enjoy about it and it's in my opinion their most consistent album. Nigel Godrich produced this and a bunch of Radiohead and I think you can definitely hear his influence in IDEA 01, A Gospel and Grace particularly. As a big Radiohead fan I'm here for that. I think none of Tangk would appear on a top 10 IDLES chart but I'm always surprised about how much I enjoy the songs when I'm listening to. In fact just having a quick skim listen as I'm typing this and I do really enjoy some of the textures of the more atmospheric stuff. I think I could definitely enjoy an IDLES album that had more stuff on it like IDEA 01 and Monolith but there would definitely be an edge missing that most fans would miss.

Really enjoyed talking about them this week. They are comfortably in my top 10 bands. Going to go wash the pots and watch this

Interesting. It is not the lack of hardcore rawness, or hits that I find makes Tangk weak. It is the lack of consistency. Love Idea01. Really like Roy. Monolith is good. Beyond that, the rest is ok, and a bit all over the place. Maybe I need to persevere some more.

 

[BimboBob]

At the moment this album is making me feel queasy but in a disturbingly nice way.

The queasy you get when another peaty single malt is sliding down and you are unsure whether it's a good idea. I mean, it's 2.20am, you really should be in bed but the lure of another is strong. I'll just finish this and be in bed by 2.30. Easy. Your tastebuds are relishing the shooting firework moments that are exploding all around so much that another wee one, and a later bed time, might be on the cards. Nothing going on in the morning anyway. And then it turns, as though that extra malt had pushed it all too far. Such a stupid idea. What was I thinking. I'm nearly 60. I have things wrong with me. I should have gone to bed hours ago. I'm going to feel like shit when daylight comes.
Awake, bleary, and in that mid semi conscious fug you glance at the time. 8.40. Six hours sleep give or take. Not enough, never enough. Bloody whisky. Always gets the blame for my weak willed night time splurges.

A weird album for sure. Listen to it with the right circumstances, see above, and it's a fantastic mood matcher. Middle of the afternoon, sun beating down, fan assistance hardly working, tea on the go and it's a completely different beast. But I like completely different beasts.

I'm also getting the delicious disjointedness of Faith No More at their peak. And that's a very good thing.


8/10

 

[Coatigan]

At the moment this album is making me feel queasy but in a disturbingly nice way.

The queasy you get when another peaty single malt is sliding down and you are unsure whether it's a good idea. I mean, it's 2.20am, you really should be in bed but the lure of another is strong. I'll just finish this and be in bed by 2.30. Easy. Your tastebuds are relishing the shooting firework moments that are exploding all around so much that another wee one, and a later bed time, might be on the cards. Nothing going on in the morning anyway. And then it turns, as though that extra malt had pushed it all too far. Such a stupid idea. What was I thinking. I'm nearly 60. I have things wrong with me. I should have gone to bed hours ago. I'm going to feel like shit when daylight comes.
Awake, bleary, and in that mid semi conscious fug you glance at the time. 8.40. Six hours sleep give or take. Not enough, never enough. Bloody whisky. Always gets the blame for my weak willed night time splurges.

A weird album for sure. Listen to it with the right circumstances, see above, and it's a fantastic mood matcher. Middle of the afternoon, sun beating down, fan assistance hardly working, tea on the go and it's a completely different beast. But I like completely different beasts.

I'm also getting the delicious disjointedness of Faith No More at their peak. And that's a very good thing.


8/10

Now that's what I call, medication!

 

[mrbelfry]

Interesting. It is not the lack of hardcore rawness, or hits that I find makes Tangk weak. It is the lack of consistency. Love Idea01. Really like Roy. Monolith is good. Beyond that, the rest is ok, and a bit all over the place. Maybe I need to persevere some more.

You've got me checking myself now but there isn't a song I don't like on Tangk. I think I probably overplayed Dancer when it first came out but I think the rest is great. It doesn't have any of my favourite songs on it but it's probably my favourite album.

Roy is like Beachland Ballroom on Crawler. I just want to sing it badly and loudly

 

[threespires]

Joy has a bunch of great songs but Crawler has more texture and doom sounds. I think in Crawler you can hear a lot of what they've been doing on previous albums become more coherent as they've become better at it. I do like the immediacy of some of the early bangers but they obviously spend a lot of time crafting a vibe. Ultra Mono is for me a slightly better album but I don't think many would agree with me - it's probably more consistent good without quite hitting the highs of Car Crash and Beachland Ballroom (two songs I don't think I'll ever tire of listening to) although Grounds and A Hymn run them close (both pairs have a lot of similarities)

My opinion on their simple outlook is I do find it a bit cringy at times. I always try and look for nuance and perspective however that can sometimes lead to nothing changing. Sometimes you do have to just draw a line in the sand and say this should be different and not really worry about the nuance.

All of that makes sense and I think younger me might have cringed at the lack of sophistication in some of their outlook but the older I get the more I think it's too easy to hide behind complexity and nuance and use it to justify all sorts of behaviour. It's partly why I had to pack in what I used to do for a living; I kept finding myself going "a bit Joe Talbot" at the people I was supposed to be advising :-)

 

[mrbelfry]

At the moment this album is making me feel queasy but in a disturbingly nice way.

The queasy you get when another peaty single malt is sliding down and you are unsure whether it's a good idea. I mean, it's 2.20am, you really should be in bed but the lure of another is strong. I'll just finish this and be in bed by 2.30. Easy. Your tastebuds are relishing the shooting firework moments that are exploding all around so much that another wee one, and a later bed time, might be on the cards. Nothing going on in the morning anyway. And then it turns, as though that extra malt had pushed it all too far. Such a stupid idea. What was I thinking. I'm nearly 60. I have things wrong with me. I should have gone to bed hours ago. I'm going to feel like shit when daylight comes.
Awake, bleary, and in that mid semi conscious fug you glance at the time. 8.40. Six hours sleep give or take. Not enough, never enough. Bloody whisky. Always gets the blame for my weak willed night time splurges.

A weird album for sure. Listen to it with the right circumstances, see above, and it's a fantastic mood matcher. Middle of the afternoon, sun beating down, fan assistance hardly working, tea on the go and it's a completely different beast. But I like completely different beasts.

I'm also getting the delicious disjointedness of Faith No More at their peak. And that's a very good thing.


8/10

Ha IDLES are one of my go to bands when I'm making dinner. I don't drink though so I'm not often up at 230am regretting my choices. I regret my choices in the daylight hours.

Was just thinking a few weeks ago I should listen to Faith No More. They're a band I never got in to originally

 

[mrbelfry]

All of that makes sense and I think younger me might have cringed at the lack of sophistication in some of their outlook but the older I get the more I think it's too easy to hide behind complexity and nuance and use it to justify all sorts of behaviour. It's partly why I had to pack in what I used to do for a living; I kept finding myself going "a bit Joe Talbot" at the people I was supposed to be advising :-)

Did you work in a primary school?

 

[threespires]

Did you work in a primary school?

Lol I couldn't cope with anything that hard core.

The straw that broke the camels back was when I asked the CIO of a large multi-national whether his lack of empathy towards the people he was unnecessarily laying off was because he was neuro diverse or because he was simply a sociopath; I suggested it would be helpful to know as we could use the answer as input into how we designed his new target operating model.