The Album Review Club - Week #195 (page 1310) - A New World Record - ELO

FogBlueInSanFran said:
Review forthcoming, but, completely off topic, the tweet below (by one of Twitter's best-ever tweeters, btw) is 100% correct. At least Radiohead isn't named The Thom Yorke band.

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I assume a hangover of their then atypical origins and the fact Rolling Stone apparently still hates them? Either way Nesmith and Dolenz are at least as deserving as many others. I've got a couple of Nesmith albums somewhere that I haven't played in a fair while and of course Dolenz brought Metal Mickey to our (UK) screens!

Don't know a lot about Dave Matthews, is he a narcissist then? Don't they do a lot of work for charidy though?
 
People On Sunday

I look forward to Goat's picks because whether well known or more obscure, they are well considered so I typically start with 'that's an interesting choice' as my jumping off point. This pick didn’t quite appeal to me as much as I thought it might and I was struggling to work out why; but then I was playing a bit of Joy Division, and I think the reason came to me.

Martin Hannett’s genius was twofold; he just knew intuitively how to make a sonically interesting physical sound, often going to great lengths to create exactly the right sound. There are loads of characteristics that make a note of any given pitch interesting and he just seemed to know what they were. The other, complementary, thing he was brilliant at was the space in between the sounds.

Listening to this week’s pick I realised that though it was a decent enough template, and there was a fair range of sounds and interplay between those sounds, the textures of the individual sounds themselves were not always interesting enough to really draw me into myself to start conjuring images. Once I’d started comparing the production to Hannett, the physical sounds themselves seemed too vanilla and secondly, I’d have liked a bit more sense of space at times as it sometimes felt busy rather than focused. Similarly, now and again it got rhythmically interesting but then it kind of lost its way.

All this meant that it was a pleasant enough experience to listen to, but for me it didn’t really do what I think this type of music does at its best which is allow you to create your own imagery and thoughts to accompany it. I would happily listen to it again in some contexts but I suspect it'll simply be ambient sound.

I did watch Menschen am Sonntag, the famous silent film it was commissioned as a new soundtrack for. I couldn’t find anything on YT where the soundtrack was already synced so I had to do that myself, which you can do fairly easily, because of the track titles. In fairness it works well as a soundtrack, though I came across three or four scores that have been developed for the film over the years and I’m not sure beyond giving a modern update it added a huge amount over the other ones; but nonetheless it did do a good job. I think the film would be powerful with most accompaniments. It’s much more subtle and less obviously chilling than say the rendition of Tomorrow Belongs To Me in Cabaret but in hindsight arguably the more powerful for it.

Overall, it was decent and solid in its intended purpose as a soundtrack, but I hoped it would speak to me more in terms of my own interpretation of it but unfortunately it didn’t. I think 6/10 for its general ambiance and utility in relation to the film seems fair.
 
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I love a bit of electronica. Especially if it's all synthy like this. It's also a very relaxing album to listen to. Saying that it doesn't really grab you in a way that, say, Fujiya and Miyagi do. At least in my head. I've given it quite a few listens, best with headphones whilst lying on the bed, and although I like the genre the actual record is a bit too slow for me.

Not sure how to score this as it's technically in my wheelhouse but slightly outside looking in. Getting wet.

6/10
 
BimboBob said:
I love a bit of electronica. Especially if it's all synthy like this. It's also a very relaxing album to listen to. Saying that it doesn't really grab you in a way that, say, Fujiya and Miyagi do. At least in my head. I've given it quite a few listens, best with headphones whilst lying on the bed, and although I like the genre the actual record is a bit too slow for me.

Not sure how to score this as it's technically in my wheelhouse but slightly outside looking in. Getting wet.

6/10
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Your mention of Fujiya & Miyagi is at the heart of the issue for me. They're a band making (good) conventional songs/albums whereas I think this is really 'just' a soundtrack that is a bit of a fish out water outside it's commissioned purpose.

I had a listen to DD's other full album "Miniatures de auto rhythm" which is a bit more of a like for like comparison and though it's decent I don't think it's F&M level, though I suspect a French electronica fan would probably say the exact opposite.
 
Just finished the 3rd listen, and although one of my prospective choices is very electronic pop, as I'd describe it, it generally isn't my thing. It's not awful, in fact I can listen to it, but reminds me of the cd's you used to (maybe still can?) buy in garden centres of running water/wind in the trees etc. I wouldn't rush to turn it off....but it would probably finish an hr before I noticed. 4.

Rob....which page is the nominations list on please?
 
GoatersLeftShin said:
Anyway, it was a good few months after I discovered the album that I found out it was actually a soundtrack to a silent film of the same name. It was filmed on Sundays in Germany in 1929 and I've actually watched the film with the soundtrack and it's really quite poignant. I'm going to keep the album separate to the film, but the track 'Sunshine in 1929' does give you a hint of what it's about. It's that idea that in the summer of 1929, people were doing very ordinary things on Sundays just as we do - fall in love, go for a coffee, bicker, walk in the park etc. However, for me it's the context that they were unaware of what was coming - the Great Depression and ultimately World War II. I am not quite sure how many words you would need to convey that sense of portence.
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I found the tie in to the 1930 film the most interesting part of listening to the album. Good write up to @GoatersLeftShin, and for the selection overall.

I read the backstory to the making of the film, and even watched (most of) it on YouTube. I had to FF a bit - let's just say I'm glad Domenique Dumont didn't have a "Who's Up for a Spanking in the Park?" track on this album to match the film. Strange ways of passing the time back then. In that regard, I enjoyed this album more than the film itself, especially in the historical context of what was to come.

The feeling I had listening to the album was one of repetition, and not just due to the repeated listens of it as a whole, it was mostly within the tracks themselves. I enjoyed listening as a backdrop to doing other things, but the overall repetition within each song meant not much stood out to me as much. The songs went seamlessly from one to the next too. Hearing the beginning of "Water Theme" and We Almost Got Lost" had the same "whooshing" sounds, nearly identical.

My tracks I enjoyed the most were "Sunshine in 1929" (I recalled from the EOY list), "We Almost Got Lost", "People On Sunday", and "Rituals". They had a bit of different sounds and layers that more stood out to me.

I could play this in its entirety going forward with no jarring "Green Calx" (Aphex Twin), which is always a plus. The songs in that regard stayed consistent and matched the overall mood. This is a 6/10 for me, in enjoying something that's not my typical "go to".
 
Almost everything that can be said has already been said, but as one who loves a good ambient and owns just about all of those Eno ever did, none of them contain songs (except Another Green World), just sounds. As atmospherics go, this gets better as it moves on I think. I thought “this would make a nice soundtrack” before reading our intrepid nominator @GoatersLeftShin’s post about it actually being one! And the tie-together actually made it a LOT more poignant and interesting after listening a few more times. So beyond just sounds and atmospherics, this has meaning too. I didn’t like it as much as Planetary Unfolding — the heavenly firmament i.e. space seems the ultimate locale for ambient, adding atmosphere when/where there is no actual atmosphere — but it seems deeper than just sonics too. I liked the electronic tweaks and changes among the resting places (I won’t call them songs) though not so much the bossanova touches. Suitable for all the things an ambient is good for, but pretty useless otherwise in the context of traditional pop music-craft, so like any reasonable ambient it gets a 6. But I’m adding a point because in the soundtrack context it actually HAS a point too. Nice pick. 7/10.
 
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Dominique Dumont - People On Sunday

As Mr Foggy alludes too, always difficult to add what’s already been said - straight away listening I felt this is all rather mundane and boring to also this is rather beautiful. So I suppose I will score around the basis of that. I do enjoy some ambient especially on some of the dance albums I have, Chemical Brothers seem to pull them off for me the best as they’re at times a welcome break between the heavy stuff - but I struggle to listen to ambient sounds continuously.
Nice nomination and it should always be encouraged to have something different away from FOC Dad Rock at times.

Pick of the bunch : Sunshine In 1929

Bonus Point: If I’m in a rocket one day and I’m told to go fix the fuselage and there’s an explosion as it all goes horribly wrong as I drift off into space - this would be my go too choice.

4/10
 
southamptonblue said:
Just finished the 3rd listen, and although one of my prospective choices is very electronic pop, as I'd describe it, it generally isn't my thing. It's not awful, in fact I can listen to it, but reminds me of the cd's you used to (maybe still can?) buy in garden centres of running water/wind in the trees etc. I wouldn't rush to turn it off....but it would probably finish an hr before I noticed. 4.

Rob....which page is the nominations list on please?
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I think I'll probably find I'm repeating myself from reviews of other ambient choices in saying that I don't know enough about the genre to know what isa god and what is bad. southampton blue captures part of my feeling about it all and if ever a type of music strikes you as something that AI could probably churn out this would be it.

Having said that... well what. My first couple of listens to this were lying on the sofa wondering if my afternoon nap would amount to anything and we had anothe listen while taking the scenic route to Yorkshire for a couple of days away. If my headphones hadn't been broken it would have got a more intimate listen while we were away and then yesterday despite a search on my TV youtube app I couldn't find the film with the soundtrack. I had to watch gold videos while I did the ironing instead.

Anyway, some of the tracks I enjoyed, there was a repetitive almost hypnotic quality to it. But suprisingly and at odds with what others have said I found some of it jarring, intrusive. My expectations of background relaxing music is that I want it all to maintain a certain consistancy and for me there were moments where it didn't.

Of the ambient choices we've had I liked Air the best but despite what I might have said at the time I haven't returned to it. My habit of having certain go to classical pieces to relax to hasn't been broken. So it sems unlikely I would return to this. It's not awful or boring though and worth a 6
 
BlueHammer85 said:
Basically the stuff I’m starting to score highly as I fast approach my 40’s!
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I think maybe I was born a FOC.

When I was 18/19, I was marvelling at the music of Springsteen and Mellencamp and curling my lip at that horrible dance music.

I still believe that dance music is only good as the soundtrack to comedy videos (see Harry Hill's TV Burp).
 
Brave choice! Not one that really floats my boat, although floating on a boat in the middle of a nice calm lake on a warm sunny day might be a nice place to listen to this.
Unfortunately I’m not overly keen on boats, so l never to get to try out this theory.
Found it all a bit samey if I’m honest and not something I’d rush to listen to again.
Not the worst pick we’ve had so I’ll give a 5/10
 
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