The Album Review Club - Week #196 (page 1316) - Aja - Steely Dan

Saddleworth2 said:
When we were talking about this album, my Daughter whilst agreeing with most of my criticism said, Dad, its music for teenage girls not old farts like you and the rest on BM. (She is a Blue too).
I reminded her that I had nominated one of her favourite albums from her teenage years just a few short weeks ago. Old farts indeed.

Where did Grumpy go btw? Did he feel the level of curmudgeonly reviews too hot to handle on this thread I wonder.
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I nominated Chappel Roan FFS. Music for teenage girls can still be good music to old farts, if they’re open-minded, well-attuned old farts :).
 
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
It's A Shame About Ray - The Lemonheads

I knew I waited too long to say something on this as GornikDaze got to my observation line first...

I thought the same thing when listening to that song as it approached its ending:

'S like a ship without a rudder (repeat, repeat, repeat...)

It wasn't all like this, and there were some songs I liked, but more on that later. I think the biggest hurdle for me was wondering why Spotify had these tunes playing at a 1.5x speed, then I realized this was all by design. It's A Shame About that, too.

Lots of that was due to the "pop punk" genre they fit into, and that's a weak spot for me in usual enjoyment. When this came out in '92, I only remember the super fast speed version of "Mrs. Robinson" that I heard, but really didn't inspire me to go listen to more, much less that it wasn't on this album originally anyways.

However, they also fit into the "jangle pop" genre, and there are enough songs here that I liked that fit more into this space. "It's A Shame About Ray", "My Drug Buddy", "The Turnpike Down" and "Hannah & Gabi" being the standouts to me where there actually was a melody, and I felt I could actually breathe during the song, even if the lyrics in MDB didn't speak to me at all. The more punky songs all sounded the same to me as if they were just playing the same song with different lyrics. "Bit Part" was one where the backup vocals from Juliana Hatfield were a nice touch, perhaps more of that would have helped on some of the other tracks?

Back in 1992, there was some albums from bands in that jangle pop category that I rate very high, specifically R.E.M.'s matured masterpiece of Automatic For The People. And why haven't I nominated this? Well, because as Coatigan correctly notes, I too am looking for something less obvious and hopefully new for most of you, not offering something I (and you should) love because it is hit-you-over-the-head-obvious and most probably know it well.

In that same jangle pop genre, I was still enjoying Toad's 1991 fear, which I feel is more my speed than this one. Another from this same year as my guilty pleasure that I did have was Gin Blossoms' New Miserable Experience. I never was a fan of the overplayed "Hey Jealousy" (typically a skip), but my go to was "Found Out About You", which alone exceeds anything I heard or enjoyed here. And I'll also note that It's A Shame About Doug from that band, but that's a story for another day.

The vocals here reminded me also of The Smithereens, a band which I do like a lot, and relistened to a bit along with this album this week. They're less on the punky side, and more of a straightforward alt-rock band. Their vocals are distinct, just like the Lemonheads are. I just found musically with those unique vocals, they go down better, though I felt both bands really benefited from some great bass playing.

Not sure where that leaves me on this. I don't have this feeling that I missed out back then, but I'm not going to slag something off the very tree I enjoy either. I'm at a 6/10 overall, and it was good to sample some other fruit, even if it didn't turn out to be my favourite of what I mostly enjoy. I can also see where LGWIO is going to enjoy this more than me, and glad to get some takeaways on songs here I appreciated too, even if it wasn't more than originally hoped for.
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Memories: I borrowed the Gin Blossoms album from Chorlton Library back in the day. For reasons I can't really remember but I think involved my dog biting the cassette I damaged the album and split the tape. Because I was the kind of kid that assumed this would result in a prison sentence I found an old cassette with screws in the corners. I took the tape from the Gin Blossoms and put it in the new alternative cassette. I used my sister's nail varnish to glue the tape back together and returned it to the library. Years later I learned that this is how people used to smuggle Western music into Soviet Russia and I no longer felt like a criminal but a smuggler and freedom fighter which is I suppose the same but also better. Take that Putin!
 
THE LEMONHEADS IT’S A SHAME ABOUT RAY



I’ve got this album and the next two they released, I’ve always enjoyed listening to this and CFTL not so much Car,Button Cloth.To me they sound like a typical American Garage band on this album, short catchy songs played with just guitar bass and drums on most tracks, although’ Hannah and Gabi ‘ has some pedal steel which I obviously like! and ‘My Drug Buddy’another favourite has some organ. I like EDs vocals the’re a bit nasally and remind me of Elvis Costello on a few tracks.I find it a very easy album to listen to although I prefer CFTL as I think the songs a more varied.There’s no filler on this , you get what you pay for on every track.



A great choice @LGWIO , a solid 8/10 CFTL would’ve got 9
 
Mancitydoogle said:
THE LEMONHEADS IT’S A SHAME ABOUT RAY



I’ve got this album and the next two they released, I’ve always enjoyed listening to this and CFTL not so much Car,Button Cloth.To me they sound like a typical American Garage band on this album, short catchy songs played with just guitar bass and drums on most tracks, although’ Hannah and Gabi ‘ has some pedal steel which I obviously like! and ‘My Drug Buddy’another favourite has some organ. I like EDs vocals the’re a bit nasally and remind me of Elvis Costello on a few tracks.I find it a very easy album to listen to although I prefer CFTL as I think the songs a more varied.There’s no filler on this , you get what you pay for on every track.



A great choice @LGWIO , a solid 8/10 CFTL would’ve got 9
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Just IMO, the first side of Come On Feel is better than this record but the second side is a tremendous letdown which is why I never play it.
 
So that's my four 12hr run of nights finished and it has been interesting "dipping" in and out of the thread to see how people have taken (or not) to my offering.

For me it is a light hearted album. It isn't up itself and doesn't have delusions of grandeur. Anything that came along with it, I think was music media driven.

It is a set of songs that I think drive along happily with plenty of hooks and head bobbing/toe tapping moments. As a 3 piece with the odd addition I liked the backing from Juliana and the organ and steel guitar that gave those songs something a little different.

Confetti, Drug Buddy along with Hannah & Gabi are the highlights for me, but as at least a couple have said I don't think there is one real duffer on the album. That said, I did wonder if lobbing in the Frank Mills cover was just gratuitous slap in the face to remind people, "hey look I am just a hippy slacker".

Now to some of the comments from fellow reviewers. Some really surprised in liking it when I thought they would pan it and others who I thought may appeal to appeared to really really dislike it. The wide gulf was perhaps my biggest surprise I didn't see this as being confrontational, divisive or lacking in musical talent. That said, that is what makes this thread so good, the fact that we find things that either hit or miss and we all give our honest opinions.

So thank you one all for letting a little bit of "dipper" into your lives and homes for the week.
 
LGWIO said:
So that's my four 12hr run of nights finished and it has been interesting "dipping" in and out of the thread to see how people have taken (or not) to my offering.

For me it is a light hearted album. It isn't up itself and doesn't have delusions of grandeur. Anything that came along with it, I think was music media driven.

It is a set of songs that I think drive along happily with plenty of hooks and head bobbing/toe tapping moments. As a 3 piece with the odd addition I liked the backing from Juliana and the organ and steel guitar that gave those songs something a little different.

Confetti, Drug Buddy along with Hannah & Gabi are the highlights for me, but as at least a couple have said I don't think there is one real duffer on the album. That said, I did wonder if lobbing in the Frank Mills cover was just gratuitous slap in the face to remind people, "hey look I am just a hippy slacker".

Now to some of the comments from fellow reviewers. Some really surprised in liking it when I thought they would pan it and others who I thought may appeal to appeared to really really dislike it. The wide gulf was perhaps my biggest surprise I didn't see this as being confrontational, divisive or lacking in musical talent. That said, that is what makes this thread so good, the fact that we find things that either hit or miss and we all give our honest opinions.

So thank you one all for letting a little bit of "dipper" into your lives and homes for the week.
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I didn’t see it creating that much controversy either. Dando is a lightweight and a semi-poseur but I also think he knows he is. Perhaps you’re right that the media of the day tried to make this into a new Voice of a Generation move (though I recall nothing like that at all at the time). The vitriol has been a bit surprising. But perhaps the lesson from this and my Simple Minds pick is that edgelessness doesn’t go over well here.

I can tell you this — my next pick will have some sharper corners than my last one!
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
I didn’t see it creating that much controversy either. Dando is a lightweight and a semi-poseur but I also think he knows he is. Perhaps you’re right that the media of the day tried to make this into a new Voice of a Generation move (though I recall nothing like that at all at the time). The vitriol has been a bit surprising. But perhaps the lesson from this and my Simple Minds pick is that edgelessness doesn’t go over well here.

I can tell you this — my next pick will have some sharper corners than my last one!
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Are we ready for Kneecap????
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
I didn’t see it creating that much controversy either. Dando is a lightweight and a semi-poseur but I also think he knows he is. Perhaps you’re right that the media of the day tried to make this into a new Voice of a Generation move (though I recall nothing like that at all at the time). The vitriol has been a bit surprising. But perhaps the lesson from this and my Simple Minds pick is that edgelessness doesn’t go over well here.

I can tell you this — my next pick will have some sharper corners than my last one!
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I think one was too much and the other was not enough. Something in-between would have been perfect. Having said that I am surprised this nomination did get some quite low scores.
 
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