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

Seems like my response to this album is a bit atypical. I was already familiar and was a bit surprised how the fiddle has put a few people off, but I recognise it’s not to everyone’s taste. However, I enjoy Aiden O’Rourke’s playing on this and for me it’s a very integral part of the sound, take it away and it’s nowhere near as good. As has been mentioned there’s moments of dissonance that give it character and I would argue that though Green is obviously doing some interesting stuff it’s at least in part down to some of O’Rourke’s playing in the way he uses the double stops and droning etc. I think he’s quite often a subtle and restrained player though I know that’s not how everyone sees it.

This album hits a sweet spot where there’s a contemporary feel to it, but it doesn’t feel like it’s trying to be conspicuously out there. I think this is partly the material and performance but also strong production and recording.

Except for the bonus track there’s nothing on here that I don’t enjoy; I probably have a leaning to the instrumental tracks, but I nonetheless like Kris Drever’s voice and there are some lovely lines in tracks like Winter Moon.

Ultimately, for me it’s all about the rhythms on an album like this, both in terms of how evocative it is and more generally how listenable the songs are. As I mentioned previously, they occasionally resolve down to an almost minimalist approach but then typically fire back up and I’m very happy to chair dance to large chunks of this album.

This is an easy 8/10 for me but I’m going to add a half point for the timing of the nomination which seems very apt to me. It’s the right album at the right time from my perspective.

8.5 / 10
 
mrbelfry said:
Have this on over dinner today.

Kid A "Dad is this a playlist or is it on the radio?"
Kid B "Why would they play this song on the radio?"
Kid A "People in Scotland are allowed to listen to music too"

Later The Master comes on
Me: "I like this one"
My wife "how can you tell?"

They weren't fans
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Kid A sounds a lot smarter than the schmuck who titled his record Kid A.
 
mrbelfry said:
Arc Light by Lau
There are some genres that require more effort than others. At the top of that list (at least of popular music) I would place jazz and folk. There are traditions, song books, moods and progressions which you need to know in order to understand what you are listening. Pop is by comparison simple and easy and like rock and dance is heard on tv, radio and movies more frequently. Unless you’re watching something with heaving bosoms, pirates or dragons you don’t often hear folk. And even if you did folk music in its genesis and development is music that is ideally listened to live and with other people.

I don’t listen too much folk music. This makes it difficult for me to assess this album. It’s like I’m stood outside the Tate Gallery trying to look at the Mona Lisa through the wrong end of a pair of binoculars with my eyes closed and being asked what I think. Probably best to stick with Coatigans post where he nominates it as he does accurately describe it as being a perfect album for winter and snow but the promise of spring.

From my place of perfect ignorance this is ok. When I read reviews and opinions saying what’s great about it - the dissonance, the tempo changes, the vocals etc - it requires me to know what is normal for folk so that I can perceive where it is different and admirable. I don’t have the context to see where it is daring and revolutionary I just hear folk and the things I do like about it (like the occasional dissonance and the drone of the accordion etc) still sound like folk. That’s not the fault of Lau though who I think are working hard and coming up with some good stuff within the self imposed limits.

There are no real low lights on the album. I sometimes think the violin is being played too aggressively and speed is substituting skill like someone smashing all the buttons on a game controller and beating you at Street Fighter. My favourite moments then are all the times the violin player stops playing like a sugared up toddler. The Burrian probably best demonstrates this best for me and I endure the first 2 and a half minutes until the violin player goes for a lie down. Then we are left with some nice and interesting atmospheric moments which I feel has some heavy similarities with War of the Worlds.

Winter Moon is the first track of three with vocals which I saw being described as powerful in one review. Maybe this is true in this genre but I found it slightly nasal and a little lacking in personality. It’s a nice little tune though. Of the tracks with vocals The Master is probably close to being my favourite and I have found myself waking up with the song on my mind. It does also ironically have a technoish kick pattern playing occasionally very faintly in the background so maybe the album art isn’t as misconceived as I like to think. The transition from The Master into Frank and Flo’s is very nice also and in my head I like to think of them as one song but again I could do with a less busy violin part.

Banks of Marble is a song that initially captured me. I can definitely hear in an alternative universe someone adding drums to this song, swapping some of the violin parts for an electric guitar and then getting Ian Brown to sing it. I think I like it a little less every time I hear it though.

Ultimately what this does well for me are the moments of atmosphere and dissonance. I want this album to be much darker, I want more of the drone and noise it occasionally does but I can hear that done to more of my preference in other stuff. If the album was more like the intro for The Master I’d be a big fan but it isn’t doing that enough. Those moments where I need to listen and figure out what I’m hearing are well done but not consistent enough throughout the album. There is 20% I quite enjoy and 80% where I expect to catch scurvy. Those moments I like are probably are when it’s at its least folksy. If I feel like I want to hear something like I enjoy in this album I’d probably listen to Wovenhand or Godspeed You! Black Emperor although it should be noted I’m not often in that mood.

So in summary. I’m quite glad I heard this album and I think I will occasionally return to it just not often enough to justify anything more than a happy 6.
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FYI this is a brilliant little piece you’ve written; well done!
 
Coatigan said:
Funny, and there I was thinking well at least this album's claim to fame van be tgat it is the rare week that doesn't involve a Radiohead discussion ;)
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Please Sir, it's not our fault - Foggy stsrted it !

Hmmm - preparedness to grass up other thread members - maybe I have to accept I'm a slimy weasel after all :-)
 
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Christmas morning Mrs IO presented me with the gift of tickets to see Peter Kay. A lovely thought, along with the idea that I could get over to see the family in Bury.
Now I do love Phoenix Nights/Car Share which are (IMO) absolute classics of comedy. I also do like a bit of live comedy, the small venues, being close to the stage, the clink of glasses in the background and the ability for the comic to actually see the heckler.
Therefore, the idea of seeing Mr K at the AO in Manchester left me a little deflated as I really do not think comedy should be seen in such cavernous venues. Seeing him on TV is one thing, seeing him live in such venues left me feeling a little "meh" about it..... (that was a fun conversation when I told Mrs IO that I wasn't that enamoured of going, combined with the fact that it would have cost at least £200 to fly us over).

So that brings me to my general feelings about this style of music and this offering.
Yes, a warm bar, the sound of clinking glasses, the smell of turf on the fire or the mustiness of a small community hall for a Ceilidh and the euphoria of the live experience. Being close up and seeing the the skill and passion of those playing, immersing yourself into the experience.......but for me, a No, listening in the car on my way in and out of work. It simply didn't get my fingers tapping on the steering wheel.

The first couple of listens I was taken by how different is is from so much that we have listened to. I did take to the idea of the repetition and the reels and the trance like idea of the music, linking it to the idea of dance/trance but then after those first couple of listens I found myself wanting to skip sections and tracks. It got to this mornings listen on the way into work where I found myself skipping Winter Moon, Horizontigo, Banks of Marble, The Master & Temple of Fiddes...and of course Dear Prudence.

I did appreciate that the boys were trying something perhaps a little different, the changes in tempo and volume, but I'm afraid they lost me. I'm afraid therefore that it's only a 5 from the Derry jury and I shall be sticking Rod on for my journey home today
 
LGWIO said:
I'm afraid therefore that it's only a 5 from the Derry jury and I shall be sticking Rod on for my journey home today
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This comment is interesting in itself. Listening to one our our nominations on the way to work and another on the way back.

On Sunday, I listened to one of Coatigan's side nominations in the car and yesterday to the Brown Horse album suggested by Out On Blue 6.

The few music threads I participate in on these forums have changed the way I listen to music. These days I'm more likely to explore something that I missed from the 70s or 80s than seek out something new. And the amount of "different" music that I get through in a year is quite something.

Does anybody else feel this way? That the offerings on these threads, both good and bad, are dominating their listening? Not saying it's a bad thing because I enjoy the discussion around all of this old and new music, but I'm just wondering what others think.
 
RobMCFC said:
Does anybody else feel this way? That the offerings on these threads, both good and bad, are dominating their listening? Not saying it's a bad thing because I enjoy the discussion around all of this old and new music, but I'm just wondering what others think.
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I don't get much time to listen to Music nowadays, kids and hectic life.
so the time i do get usually on the commute to work is normally just the Album nomination on here, sometimes squeeze in some other stuff on occasion but overall its pretty much whatever album on here all year round!

*and that other stuff is normally the album nominations playlist on shuffle!
 
Lau - Arc Light

Much as i tried i could not get into this - like others felt there was too much harmonica on my Dylan nomination i felt the same here with the fiddle and accordion - it just felt so intense at times that i wanted to switch off, not always mind and when it come together it really works like the ending of 'The Master' - beautiful.

Preferred the vocal tracks rather than instrumental and enjoyed the theme on 'Banks Of Marble', enjoyed also opening 'The Burrian' and 'Winter Moon', I feared the worst approaching Beatles cover 'Dear Prudence' but it was actually stripped down and ok, if not a bit pointless.
Overall, If i was watching this live I'd have a far higher appreciation, the musicianship and talent is superb and it's traditional folk with a more modern approach - also felt a lot of this would work cinematically and picture beautiful scenes of mountains etc.

5/10
 
RobMCFC said:
This comment is interesting in itself. Listening to one our our nominations on the way to work and another on the way back.

On Sunday, I listened to one of Coatigan's side nominations in the car and yesterday to the Brown Horse album suggested by Out On Blue 6.

The few music threads I participate in on these forums have changed the way I listen to music. These days I'm more likely to explore something that I missed from the 70s or 80s than seek out something new. And the amount of "different" music that I get through in a year is quite something.

Does anybody else feel this way? That the offerings on these threads, both good and bad, are dominating their listening? Not saying it's a bad thing because I enjoy the discussion around all of this old and new music, but I'm just wondering what others think.
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It has certainly broken me out of a musical rut. I used to listen to music that I know and love. Nowadays I am more likely to be listening to stuff introduced on this thread so I can get to know it a great deal better. It (and the history thread) is like a musical library for me and for that I am truly grateful to everyone involved.
This is also a relatively safe place for posters with some very good discussion and reviews of all shades from 'its shite' to verbose prose that would make Charles Shaar Murray blush.
 
As I hinted at earlier I have real trouble listening to this style of music. Bennyboy has pretty much nailed my feelings! Following Rob’s great review, I have listened to Horizontigo a couple of extra times. It’s actually at 4:10 when that bloody fiddle kicks in! Okay I wasn’t in a zen place floating on Loch Ness before that point, but it certainly ruined any positive feelings I had.
I have many many fond memories of Scotland, none have been enhanced by the music (apart from the Biff - apologies Benny!), and don’t get me started on the bagpipes!
I can appreciate the musicianship on this more than, shall we say, The Streets, but I’m still scoring low I'm afraid. It’s a 3/10
 
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