You'd asked my opinion

You'd asked my opinion on a few bands...


***Phil Spector produced 60's groups and the wall of sound.---I was always enamored of the Wall of Sound but I never tried too hard to track down the groups who employed it. Of course in trying to imitate it Bruce Springsteen perfected it (most notably on "Born to Run" but I always hear it shine through most clearly on "Night"). Much like Gary Glitter, Spector's trespasses forces you to separate the music from it's maker. Such was never too difficult for me, as I certainly didn't care anything for Glitter's brand of glam and though I enjoyed his work I never cared enough for Spector as a personality to be too bothered about it.

***Lame Impala.---Actually I think it's TAME Impala you're talking about here. I note that their most recent album did very well in the "end-of-year" lists and I did listen to it once. It was decent enough but not to interesting that I have felt compelled to play it again.


***The War on Drugs.---The Sun Kil Moon/War on Drugs "feud" was the source of collateral damage on both side. As for Kozelek I felt he was way out line and it was the last thing he needed during a year when his most recent album was being praised from all corners. As for Kurt Vile and WoD it was an unfortunate case of me caring too much about Koz's opinion and taste in music. Which means that I've never been able to listen to WoD without his criticisms poisoning the well. Even if they're invalid and meaningless I still find myself looking for them when I hear WoD's music. That plus the fact that WoD don't sound like what I envisioned them sounding like when I first heard people singing thier praise. For some reason they gave me the impression they were a stereotypical 4AD band but that's not what they are at all. To wrap it up, the War on Drugs is an interesting band but not quite up my alley.


***The Connells.---As you know I've been a supporter of The Connells since the mid-eighties, from the first time I saw a 30 second clip of one of their live shows on an episode of MTV/IRS The Cutting Edge. You may recall I actually wrote to their management asking about the song they had played. I forget the title but it was something they had not recorded. I don't know if they ever recorded it but the manager sent me a cassette of a self-recorded live version and that won me over completely for those guys. "Boylan Heights" was always my favorite (with "I Suppose" being my favorite track). There were a few good songs on the follow-up, "Fun & Games" but as a whole that album didn't do it for me like "Boylan Heights". Those two records and a debut album, the name of which escapes me, were my main experience with The Connells, though they did release at least a couple more after that.


***The Pixies.---I don't know why I didn't get deeper into this band than I did. I like them very much and have listened to a lot of their material but I don't think I've ever listened to a one of their albums straight through. If I have it was probably "Tromp Le Monde" which contains some of their best work, IMO. Kurt Cobain insisted that the musical template of Nirvana was always based on The Pixies (although I don't personally hear it). I know Rick Withrow had them scoped out as early as the late 80s. I knew of them long before that but for whatever reason they didn't catch my ear.

***Hole.---I can remember when "Live Through This" came out and there were people saying it was too good, that it had been written by Love's husband, Kurt Cobain. That's a loaded compliment/insult! Because yes, a good part of it is as good as anything Cobain wrote for his own band. Courtney has a genuine punk sensibility that has worked both for and against her all these years. I haven't heard "Celebrity Skin" and I think they may even have a more recent one out but I haven't heard that one either. But "Live Through This" is a classis.

***Arcade Fire.---I'm sure these guys are great, as I tend to very much enjoy Canadian contemporary rock acts...but I have not really taken the time to get to know them at all. I've seen them on TV more than I've listened to their records. I do like what I've heard, it just hasn't been enough for me to have opinion about.

***Lady GaGa.---I have not listened to her music at all so I don't have an opinion on that. But as a performance artist she keeps things very interesting, that's to be sure. I'm glad she did so well with her Super Bowl national anthem performance. There were plenty of people there hoping she'd fuck up and she didn't, she blew them away.

***Coldplay.---I can't say I'm crazy about all of Coldplay's music but what I like from them I really like a lot. Most of those tracks I like so much are from the "A Rush of Blood to the Head" album ("In My Place", "Clocks", "The Scientist"). I almost feel sorry for them they've become so popular. Mainstream popularity doth not make good bedfellows with the kind of music they make and I think that's hurt them. I used to think Chris Martin was a jerk but not so much anymore. They all seem like good guys. Not as weird as Radiohead, not as charismatic as U2, they carry the banner for post-Brit Pop/Post Pop, let's call it...Though it's conceivable that someone might come up to you and suggest that Coldplay is the worst band in the world you can rest content knowing that you have Nickelback waiting in the wings to collect that honor.

***Father John Misty.---I saw Misty on Letterman and listened to his most recent album a few times. He has sort of a Leonard Cohen sensibility about him, sort of like a man who has been to some dark, seedy places come back to tell you about it. Unfortunately the whole thing comes of slightly disingenuous and gimmicky. It doesn't help that he has decided to call himself "Father" John Misty, so you get that sort of priestly pall that's cast on everything. That said I also think that the guy behind Fr. Misty (the Fleet Foxes' drummer whose name escapes me) is well aware of everything he's putting out there, including the gimmicky aspects. So if he's in on the joke and he's letting me in on the joke I can be a bit more accommodating.