The Syndicate

And yes, the tchaikovsky is definitely the better composition.

Perlman is playing.

That is clearly not Itzhak Perlman

G-Man submitted tubthumping

M Plus 7 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 06, 2018 11:02 am

Golden wrote: ↑Tue Jun 05, 2018 10:48 pm

JaggedJimmyJay wrote: ↑Sun Mar 04, 2018 2:31 pm I listened again today, this time a version from the Belgian Radio and Television Philharmonic Orchestra. It was again agreeable and pleasant, which often seems to be the extent of my reception of classical music. To me there always seems to be something missing at the core which limits its ceiling, though clarifying exactly what that is would be difficult. I struggle to draw any meaningful emotion from it; it rarely makes me feel anything. That's not to say it isn't there, because clearly for many other people the effect is quite the opposite. So it sounds good, I liked it well enough, and I cannot honestly provide it with any greater praise than that.

I noticed Rico had previously made a classical suggestion. Was interesting reading the various feedback,

Particularly the bit I italicised from Jay above, because this is pretty much how I feel about most music, but the highest hit rate of emotion for me is with classical. As speedchuck said, classical music is frequently raw genius at work, the likes of which it's rare to find in modern music which is frequently the product of some kind of hive mind that had a jam session. When I listen to classical music, I can usually understand and empathise with the emotion of the composer; or, where the composer is deliberately telling a story, the characters involved.

I mean; you're the greatest musician of your time and you're going deaf? Beethoven's 7th symphony, second movement. You can feel that sorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tchaikovsky's violin concerto was written shortly after his divorce; the divorce came because he was gay. What he managed to write in the aftermath of that was both tumultuous but also uplifting - I can hear, literally, his sorrow and relief upon the page.

Mendelssohn developed something of a love affair for Britain; he also managed to maintain an air of being casual and happy to the general observer, despite actually being a little cantankerous. You can hear the influence of being in Scotland clearly here, as well as a sort of British upper-classness to it all; It's a counterpoint to the Tchaikovsky. Where the Tchaikovsky is beset with genuine real emotion, Mendelssohn avoids it (but conjures his environment in place of it).

That's interesting. I feel the same way, but substitute classical with electronic or jazz usually. I'm just not much of a classical guy myself, not even entirely sure why.

For me Jazz is classical music, really. I mean, what's the difference between Beethoven and Gershwin? What's the difference between Gershwin and Miles Davis?

JaggedJimmyJay wrote: ↑Sun Mar 04, 2018 2:31 pm I listened again today, this time a version from the Belgian Radio and Television Philharmonic Orchestra. It was again agreeable and pleasant, which often seems to be the extent of my reception of classical music. To me there always seems to be something missing at the core which limits its ceiling, though clarifying exactly what that is would be difficult. I struggle to draw any meaningful emotion from it; it rarely makes me feel anything. That's not to say it isn't there, because clearly for many other people the effect is quite the opposite. So it sounds good, I liked it well enough, and I cannot honestly provide it with any greater praise than that.

I noticed Rico had previously made a classical suggestion. Was interesting reading the various feedback,

Particularly the bit I italicised from Jay above, because this is pretty much how I feel about most music, but the highest hit rate of emotion for me is with classical. As speedchuck said, classical music is frequently raw genius at work, the likes of which it's rare to find in modern music which is frequently the product of some kind of hive mind that had a jam session. When I listen to classical music, I can usually understand and empathise with the emotion of the composer; or, where the composer is deliberately telling a story, the characters involved.

I mean; you're the greatest musician of your time and you're going deaf? Beethoven's 7th symphony, second movement. You can feel that sorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tchaikovsky's violin concerto was written shortly after his divorce; the divorce came because he was gay. What he managed to write in the aftermath of that was both tumultuous but also uplifting - I can hear, literally, his sorrow and relief upon the page.

Mendelssohn developed something of a love affair for Britain; he also managed to maintain an air of being casual and happy to the general observer, despite actually being a little cantankerous. You can hear the influence of being in Scotland clearly here, as well as a sort of British upper-classness to it all; It's a counterpoint to the Tchaikovsky. Where the Tchaikovsky is beset with genuine real emotion, Mendelssohn avoids it (but conjures his environment in place of it).

This will definitely play differently to some people - but for me it's pretty close to the pinnacle of composing, conducting and performing - particularly the Tchaikovsky with Ormandy. There are passages here where nearly every great violinist evidently slows the tempo - Perlman somehow breezes through the entire thing with grace. If I had to list my ten greatest classical music recordings this would be contending for number one (and I'm not even a great violin fan).

I submit:

Perlman plays Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn concertos

Sorry, can't find a playlist, had to reconstruct from individual tracks:

I just don't have time to fully participate which makes it feel mean to submit.

I feel like I should catch up on nutella's submissions first of all. They look great. I'll think about a submission.

I already had a submission on the last poll, and also I haven't kept up basically since I moved house, although I keep really feeling I need to get back in the swing. It's just a function of time. But I still intend to keep up eventually.

Jay's list might have a full 10% that is New Zealand music. When are you moving over here, Jay?

Perfect review Rico. I really agree with basically everything you said (although obviously I like some of the more main stream chorus tendencies slightly more than you). I give the Heart Speaks in Whispers a 4 - the main problem is too many tracks that would have been better off excised and that you have to work hard to see it as an album (unlike the Sea). The Sea is definitely her best so far, but I feel like she has an elusive 5/5 album in her.

nutella wrote: ↑Fri Jul 07, 2017 5:21 pm I enjoyed it at first but I do agree it dragged on a bit too long.

Partly because it's the deluxe edition, but I think it drags from about track 8 through 13.

Because I love this album (and CBR generally) so much, I can easily talk about each track. So here are my thoughts.

1) The Skies Will Break - I really like the simple 4-bar piano riff that sits underneath much of this song. It sets the tone and story of the album - she is moving on from the loss of her husband, this is about the new stage of her life, the sun shines through and finally she can focus on other things than violence. It also mentions the word 'golden' a couple of times (and that's probably also the best part of the song - right at the end, as the sun breaks in). It's not the best song on the album melodically, but it is the perfect album opener if you are to regard her discography as a whole - it moves her story on from "The Sea" perfectly. 3.5/5

2) Hey, I Won't Break Your Heart - I've never quite understood the start of this song - why the funny cutting in and out? But it holds a lot of CBR's most soulful mood, which is one of my favourite moods of her vocals. I love the way the song builds up in a crescendo, towards the 3 minute make, and it feels like a release of tension the song has built. I don't know what the intent of the lyrics are, but it has always felt like transference to me - like 'the man in her life' is a single entity, that broke her heart by dying once before, and it's about the difficulty in trusting, but also an understanding of what it is to give trust. It took me a few listens to fall in love with this song, but now I love it. 4/5

3) Been to the Moon - the album's single. On my first listen, it was weird. Then it became addictive. CBR's voice it at its very best when it just melts, and on this song it's melting all over the place. I thoroughly love the bass line. The minute of brass at the end is something I never get sick of. It has a certain imperfection to it, which I think is something CBR goes for generally anyway. I'm not sure what her history is with her new husband, but this song either speaks again of transference, or it speaks of a previous near miss - something I identify with a lot as I feel I've had my own share of 'could have beens' - roads that I didn't take but that I easily could have. There's still the undertone of not wanting to be hurt again. But it really comes out in a joyous and playful way. It's lyrically on point too - the first two verses use words almost as well as Paul Simon to tell a story while hitting rhythmic beats. I love this track, it doesn't go where I expect it to. 5/5

4) Tell Me - catchy, but not my favourite gear for CBR. It's almost a protest song, she's starting a movement, but I don't know what it's a movement for. She gets a little beauty in on the verses, and there's still some lush orchestration in places, but if I'm skipping through the highlights, this is the first one I skip. 2.5/5

5) Stop Where You Are - this song veers a little too much into mainstream pop for my liking. It's actually a little Norah Jones-esque. I like Norah Jones in its place, so that isn't exactly a criticism, but it's not what I'm coming to this album for (and it's a poor facsimile). The Guardian wrote that it was looking for a Coldplay album (which may well be true, but I don't know them well enough). Like "Hey, I Won't Break Your Heart", it feels like the whole song builds toward a climax at around 3 minutes, but this time it doesn't pack the emotional punch that I feel with the other song (although my favourite bit of the song is definitely the evocative lyricism leading up to that climax). 1.5/5

6) Green Aphrodisiac - the album snaps back on track a bit here, as CBR once again melts all over a song. Where the last two songs didn't connect individually, they are collectively about re-empowerment and coming working out of the conflict she has in looking back at her pain. Here CBR hits her own personal spring, a metaphor for her own new growth. "Green Aphrodisiac" seems to me like the full-blown release of the past and embracing of a new phase of life. The metaphor hits for me but the lyrics aren't as great as some of her others, so the song feels like it could be a home run but doesn't quite make it for me. 4/5

7) Horse Print Dress - There's Motown hints throughout the album, even before this point, but they are in full force here. I can't help but feel like I'm listening to a modern take on Diana Ross and the Supremes on this track. It's also another one where I feel like CBR is at her lyrical best. She'll sing the number of syllables that she wants to, and whether it's fewer or more than you expect, she makes it work perfectly. The song is a step on from spring to full blown summer, and CBR's has always been great at expressing the light cheeriness of summer. Everything is perfect - the bass line, the backup singers... it feels like there's not a foot wrong here. 5/5

8) Do You Ever Think of Me? - CBR has a song like this on all her albums, and this one doesn't really add anything new - if anything, it's a poor replication of songs like "I'd Like To" from her first album. It feels a little redundant and stodgy here, to me. It also feels like it's in completely the wrong place in the album - why is it here? This is where I'd probably slot in one of the tracks that are only in the deluxe cut that I think belong in the album proper ("High" or "Ice Cream Colours"), both of which seem to fit better with the story.. 1/5

9) Caramel - critics like this song more than I do, I think. No doubt it's lush, but two things bring me down. The first is that I don't really love the instrumentation in the introduction and bridge. The second is the way she says 'caramel'. Cahramehl? I think this is CBR melting all over the word caramel, but in this case I find it distracting. This song gets a lot of good reviews, but it's not one of my favourites. I think it might have worked better as an album end, as it's a great story counterpart to "the Skies Will Break", while matching "The Sea" in terms of overall feel. 2/5

10) Taken By Dreams - this one took a few listens to creep up on me. At first, it felt like it was sitting in the bland stretch, but it isn't as bland as those around it. One thing I haven't mentioned match is the space imagery going on in the album (Sun, stars, moon, galaxies... it comes up again and again), and this song uses that imagery to talk about the next phase of a relationship with trust - the feel of being able to go together into the unknown with confidence. In places I feel like this song bursts like fireworks. This is CBR's lush style used well, she doesn't get lost in her lyrics but tells a story beautifully. It feels a little like a Janelle Monae song, just CBRed up. 4/5

11) Walk On - An abstract description of what you find when you walk into the unknown? It feels like it fits, but it's one of the more abstract songs on the album. It just feels like one extended groove session. Enjoyable, lush, but ultimately a little forgettable. 3/5

12) Night - this is the end of the album proper. This song feels almost like a reflection backwards - she's been through spring and summer with a new love, and now she looks back at what was and the journey that got her there. I guess it makes sense for her as a bookend to this part of her journey. But it took me a long time to understand this song as the end of the album, whereas with "the Sea" it was immediately apparent, the album had ended perfectly. This song even deliberately ends with an unfinished sentence, as if begging you to see that this journey is unfinished. It has it's own kind of beauty, but for me it's unsatisfying. Swap this and Caramel, and you might even contextualise 'Do You Ever Think of Me' along with this song as a period of doubt and struggle - but then you lose the impact of Taken By Dreams as a song with doubt removed. I dunno, it works by itself, but in the context of the album I don't love it. 2.5/5

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

13) In the Dark - In the dark definitely doesn't feel like it fits in to the album. It feels like it's a song she wrote at some point (perhaps an earlier point, after losing her husband), and that she wanted it to see the light of day despite the fact it didn't fit here. So, good choice to leave it out. It's not special, but it's just nice. 3/5

14) Ice Cream Colours - this song could just about have been the second single of the album, and I'm surprised it didn't make the album proper. It reminds me a lot of her second single from "The Sea" (Paris Nights/New York Mornings), the big difference being that here she shows off her full range. It feels like she sings with ice cream colours. I can't help but listen to this without tapping, and every time she sings arpeggios down two octaves in a couple of seconds, I marvel at her ability to sing incredibly technically difficult passages and make them sounds like they are as easy as breathing. I mean, lines like "we're animate we're intimate we're wild' and 'the distance is immeasurable in time' go down like a sip of whiskey despite them happening in a blink. It's gorgeous. And the way the song finishes is great. It's everything I love about CBR. 5/5

15) High - I honestly don't know how this song didn't make the album proper. It's probably the most heartfelt and beautiful rendering of new love I've ever heard. Is it my favourite CBR song? Is it currently my favourite song full stop? Maybe. Such a simple little piano line, such a simple melody. It's just a few words, describing how words aren't needed when you're truly in love, and sung with reality. It's a deeply personal song, it speaks straight to CBR's introversion, her ideal world being one of the intimacy between two people in love, and I think it speaks straight to my soul. The climax is simple, but the song comes with so much emotional weight its earned, and she gives it just one stanza earlier than you'd expect. When the song ends with the words, "I don't want to break the spell", well, I don't. So I often listen to it again. If I could give it 6/5 I would. I'd have gladly taken this as an ending to the album as well. 5/5

16) Push on for the Dawn - this feels like another throwback to earlier stylings, and I wonder if that's why it missed the album. It would have fit in the middle of "The Sea" perfectly. I love the use of the hammond organ, it works well, actually the instrumentation overall is great in this song. I think it works better as an album ending than "Night" does. It's a beautiful song, and I think it suffers in my mind because of coming after a song so amazing, even though it doesn't deserve to. 3.5/5

"High" is also probably my favourite track.

Some quick background to this album.

Corinne Bailey Rae has released three studio albums. The first (self-titled), you're probably familiar with a couple of the tracks - it''s a breezy, summery album that fits a pop mold, albeit with a gorgeous vocalist and some very beautiful harmonic twists. But, it's relatively straightforward. Then her husband died of an overdose. Her second album, The Sea, was a melancholy memoir of her lost love, for me an album that truly works as a whole album, as you feel the throughline. It's a beautiful thing to put on whenever I'm feeling a little nostalgic for things I can't get back.

This is her third album, and it took a long time to write. The result is an album full of hope and new love, of empowerment (there's a lot of space imagery going on as well), and ultimately it's a fairly lush experience. I don't think it's as good as The Sea (primarily because it doesn't feel as much like a complete album - I defy you to be able to tell where the bonus tracks begin in the deluxe version), but I think it's a better entry point.

I'll come back and talk about my favourite tracks later.

Ricochet wrote: ↑Sat Jul 01, 2017 4:14 pm Last vid went down to just 5 views lol.

You don't have mine yet but I'll be acatching up.

Should I go front to back or back to front? I think I might start with one tonight.

Darn, I'm so far behind. I keep thinking I'll be able to catch up and another week ticks by.

I am going to make a concerted effort to start this again next week, when my schedule begins to start clearing.

Like, the links again, giving people an opportunity to post about it even if they already did (because I've missed it)

I would rather have some time with passion play. Mind you I'm way behind cos of how busy I've been.

I am not expecting to have internet for another week

Annoying, because I can't listen to these things at work and they are really too data intensive for me to be able to afford to listen without wifi.

I feel way behind because I'd been so busy with the move, so now that's over I just want to get, well, a move on.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote: ↑Wed Apr 19, 2017 4:52 pm The first Ricoreview I haven't watched in full.

You don't like Rico any more?

No, my submission will win!

Besides that, I'm waiting to get internet in the new house... I should finally have time to catch up on some of this, yay!

nutella wrote:It's not even in the same ballpark as Bish Bosch, lol.

I can tell that just from the comments.

Given that Bish Bosch is really not my kind of experimental music, maybe this will be.

I wonder how I'll compare this to Bish Bosch. I just need to find time to catch up!

I'm so far behind.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote:

Hackett wrote:I've enjoyed Arthur for the most part. In limited exposure I think I like the former half of the album more than the latter. I appreciate the straight-forwardness of the music; no genre-bending gimmicks are called upon to add unnecessary flare. It's a 3.5 for me.

That's exactly how I feel.

I'm not sure what I could submit that I'd give a 5. I'll have to think about it.

MovingPictures07 wrote:

Golden wrote:Why not, when there isn't an even spread of what you consider good and bad?

It's not natural and doesn't have any remote pretense of symmetry. I don't choose my rating scale in accordance with making a bell curve; I set the rating scale in advance, then stuff falls however it falls.

If that means I have 1,000 3.5-star albums and only 2 1.5-star albums, so be it. That's how it should be rated IMO.

Haha you are a product of your sphere of expertise!

It's funny to me that you can't imagine using a ranking scale without symmetry but it doesn't bother you that things don't end up in a bell curve. We're just picking different places in which to create our symmetry.

True, but there's no problem saying 55% of my days are the same! I'm not ranking them. It feels like you are giving yourself an artificially small range in which you're actually going to rank most albums

Why not, when there isn't an even spread of what you consider good and bad?

I'm with trice... you skew high. i'd put 'average' at probably 1.5 stars... it's the only way I create a meaningful range to distinguish between different levels of good things. Putting it at 50% is an artificial thing we learn from that being the pass/fail mark at school.

Quin wrote:it was great background noise so I give it a thumbs up overall.

I cannot understate how overjoyed I am that Quin is participating in this exericse

JaggedJimmyJay wrote:

MovingPictures07 wrote:I remember reading somewhere Neil Finn expressing regret re: "Chocolate Cake" as this album's opener, and I think even as a song in general.

Many people believe that Crowded House's failure to stick in the US was a direct result of Chocolate Cake being the first single on Woodface. The lyrics poke fun at American [over]indulgence and some people apparently didn't appreciate the joke.

If that's accurate, it's kind of interesting that our most recent international star (Lorde) wrote a song about the exact same thing that was at number one for a while.

Well here's something odd....

Jays YouTube link is geoblocked lol.

Thinking of the Finn brothers collective body of work is the best way to understand it as New Zealanders do. In some ways there is no Split Enz or Crowded House - just the Finn brothers. So, jay, I think you are approaching the music exactly the right way to understand it like a Kiwi.

This is going to be an interesting experience for me. I can't say that I'm at least aware of having ever listened to a Crowded Face album. Nevertheless, several of these songs are a major part of New Zealand national consciousness ("Weather With You" in particular) and the Finn brothers are essentially NZ music royalty, in whatever form (Split Enz has just as many famous tracks as Crowded House).

So, I guess this experience is going to be significantly different for me as it will be for most of you.

Rankings so far

1) Chuck Berry is on Top - Chuck Berry - 7/10
2) Beneath the Brine - the Family Crest - 7/10
3) The Crazy World of Arthur Brown - Arthur Brown - 7/10
4) 98.12.28 Otokotachi no Wakare - Fishmans - 5/10
5) World Music - Goat - 4/10
6) Bish Bosch - Scott Walker - 1/10

I'm giving Chuck Berry Is On Top a solid 3,5 stars, and it probably slots in above Beneath the Brine on my 3.5ometer. I admit part of it is giving myself to historical context - Chuck Berry's music was important. But I also found plenty of interest that I didn't expect when listening to the music.

Take songs such as Anthony Boy and Jo Jo Gunne - songs that were infused with deliberate humour (I did not expect to hear 'Mary Has a Little Lamb' as an instrumental solo). I also think that, given the album was essentially defining a single style of music, it did well to push the genre to both edges - country and blues - so that I could get a genuine sense of how the influences were combined, which is something I'd never really thought about before. This enabled me to enjoy the album on an analytical level that went beyond what I expected from Chuck Berry.

But, putting aside my snob hat, I genuinely enjoy this brand of music, outdated though it is - simply listening to the drummer or the pianist riffing within the scope of a rock and roll song is a pleasure for me (in fact, I might consider this the height of the use of piano in popular music).

It couldn't elevate further because ultimately the bulk of the tracks are essentially the 12 bar blues with different melodies.

Anthony Boy was quite interesting to me. But I'll get to a proper review.

And then I want to relisten to Arthur Brown and do a proper review of that too.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote:I think the album is very enjoyable independent of historical context. I'd wager that I'd be bored by most formative era rock and roll, but this is an exception. It is a bit formulaic, but I can forgive that as it is establishing a formula of such significant influence.

I feel the same way. I've found that I'm listening to it specifically for two things - the instrumentation, and the lyrics - rather than the vibe/general sound which is something we are all very familiar with given how formative it was to a generation of music and how pervasive it was culturally.

Quin wrote:They all do. That might be because the album was released in the 50's.

This is that 'pretending to know what I'm talking about thing', right?

You're doing great, Quin!

nutella wrote:I do know that one song by CBR that was really popular like ten years ago, Put Your Records On, and I guess it was ok but nothing really special (nice voice I guess), but otherwise I'm unfamiliar. But now seeing how you describe her various albums I'm pretty tempted to check her out soon even though she didn't make this round's list.

No, you must wait until the appropriate time

Johnny B Goode might be my favourite song of all time. I blame Back to the Future.

Rankings so far

1) Beneath the Brine - the Family Crest - 7/10
2) The Crazy World of Arthur Brown - Arthur Brown - 7/10
3) 98.12.28 Otokotachi no Wakare - Fishmans - 5/10
4) World Music - Goat - 4/10
5) Bish Bosch - Scott Walker - 1/10

On that note, I only had a chance to listen to Arthur brown once, but it was thoroughly enjoyable. I love the entire vibe, the organs, the theatrical flair. I'd listen again, and I will this week to develop more detailed thoughts if I get the chance. I agree with llama's take on 'I put a spell on you', it was superb.

I'll give it a solid three and a half stars, and there's a chance it goes up on a relisten, but for now I couldn't put it above Beneath the Brine, which despite its flaws I felt was my favourite experience of the set of five (but, I had a chance to listen to it more than once).

JaggedJimmyJay wrote:

Golden wrote:

JaggedJimmyJay wrote:I've heard one of CBR's other albums and enjoyed it a lot. She's a very easy listen.

Which one? Her albums are all very much defined by her life stage, so it was hard to pick which to go for.

Actually now that I look I have heard two. Her self-titled album and The Sea. The former I preferred, though I don't think I heard the latter more than once.

The latter was composed in the wake of her husband dying by overdose, and has to be heard in that context. I think it's the most complete as an album, but not nearly so fun. The first was fun and breezy. The second was lush but melancholic.

Nutellas going to love it I think. I think some others may be surprised.

Linki - well damn. I thought one of the prog rock albums would make it! I think my first three choices are the three that missed out lol.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote:I've heard one of CBR's other albums and enjoyed it a lot. She's a very easy listen.

Which one? Her albums are all very much defined by her life stage, so it was hard to pick which to go for.

I don't have lastfm. Truth be told music has never been a defining experience for me, except some classical works. I don't even know what lastfm is!

Yes! Janelle monae I love as well, i think she's the closest match! She's a little more experimental. CBR is more retro in a way, it's neo soul but it's not so far removed from original soul.

juliets wrote:I really wanted to hear Rico review Jethro Tull - I guess I should have voted. Next time.

I think you can still vote, juliets?