The wisdom here in The Hall continues to amaze. In the early days I was intimidated but realized over time that although there are many here much more knowledgeable than I, it was the collective wisdom that was so daunting and impressive.
It is in that spirit that I want to launch a new regular feature that is not only for the people but by the people.
The concept is simple. This is a place to seek specific wisdom from the collective intelligence. These are not to be philosophical queries but rather to seek advice and wisdom on specific rock questions. I see it most used as a place to seek listening and purchasing recommendations.
I will start with a very simple request, one which may spark lengthy conversation, or not, but will hopefully illicit some sage advice.
The initial goal of this thread is to offer the opportunity for folks to ask similar questions and receive similar advice. The topic shouldn’t necessarily focus just on my topic.
Soooo. Here’s the question I would like to ask The Orockle.
I recently heared an acoustic version of World Party‘s Ship of Fools and have been moved to explore this personally ignored band. In reading the often misleading AllMusicGuide I am torn between purchasing the second release Goodbye Jumbo and supplementing it with a purchase of Ship of Fools OR buying the Best In Show “hits” compilation.
Know that I am album-centric and dislike buying songs individually or even in “hits” compilations unless the artist in question really begs for a compilation only (see previous Hall & Oates thread.)
I know there may likely be those who will try and dissuade from exploring this vein.
Whatever your thoughts, if you have them, please share. And please feel free to take this opportunity to
Consult the Orockle.
World Party’s first album had too many Prince references for me to even begin to check out, but then I heard some songs from the second album, Goodbye Jumbo, that were squarely in the John Lennon-cum-ELO vein. I ran out to the store to buy it only to find out that it was 1/3 songs in that style and 2/3 songs in the Prince style. In other words, I bet Hrrundi would highly recommend it:P I eventually ditched the record, which is too bad because the 3 or 4 good songs were really to my liking. I’d advise you to stop being a completist and download the songs that sound catchiest when you click the song samples.
While others chime in on your World Party question, I would like to consult the Orockle on the wisdom of re-purchasing the one Wire album I sold years ago and now regret having sold, 154. Is there any chance I will cherish it and not take it for granted after buying it a second time, or will it be too late, like trying to date a girl I already broke up with 20 years ago?
I own the first four World Party albums. The first one, Private Revolution, has “Ship Of Fools” and doesn’t much sound like the others. It’s got that synth-and-sax ’80s production mix, many of the songs sound like earlier Prince as far as the backing music goes, while Wallinger’s voice is at his most psuedo-Jaggery. I like this one a lot, but the overall sound isn’t what the rest of his stuff sounds like.
Goodbye Jumbo usually gets held up as the best one, and it has at least two good songs, both of which are almost certainly on the best of, but for the most part, this never worked for me. Too many of the songs kind of fail to make an impression. Same with the third album, Bang!, though that has “All I Gave”, which I think is one of his best songs. Still, I almost never listen to these two, and when I was putting things on my iPod, I think I only grabbed four or five songs of the two middle albums in total.
The fourth one, Egyptology, I don’t remember that being as well-regarded, but I actually think it’s the best one as an album, overall. Wallinger sort of fully embraced his inner-Jeff Lynne and put out what could have passed as a 1997 ELO album. Like a lot of mostly one-man-band types, he’s probably deeply prock-oriented – there are at least two World Party Beatles covers that are pretty much note for note remakes – and I think he just figured on this one “Hey, I really want to make songs that sound like Beatles songs” and so he did, and the result was the same for anyone who tries making songs that sound like Beatles songs, that being songs that sound like Jeff Lynne songs.
I never got the last World Party album, but I do have one song from it called “Another 1000 Years”, which is pretty much a two-thirds cover of “Baby You’re A Rich Man”…or maybe a three-quarters cover of “Sowing The Seeds Of Love”. But anyway, he’s really good at that sort of thing, if that’s the sort of thing you like people to be really good at.
154 is a complicated album, because it’s not as all-out weird/catchy as CHAIRS MISSING (which makes it harder to instantly like) and because there’s one particular synth sound of which they had become very fond…and it’s not a good one. But I thik 154 is a great album, sonically strong and clever, consistent in a way CHAIRS MISSING isn’t, and with some of thier most creative and unusual songs, and plenty of hooks, if you’d call them that. I can live with that one annoying sound they use on three or four songs.
Will YOU like it? Hard to say…my usual recommendation of it is “I think it’s great, but I can’t for the life of me guess what you’l think…”
Orockle,
Every few years, like some sort of Leap Year Resolution I vow to try and “get into” Stevie Wonder and I just haven’t been able to. Rather than suggesting an album can the orockle suggest a few songs that might help me make the passage?
Thank you great Orockle. Your advice thus far is indeed sage…although I don’t appreciate your condescending to my album-orientation.
Re: Stevie, you might YouTube or some such to get a handle on whether you like the Motown Stevie of the 60s, the Expanding Headband Stevie of the 70s, or the McCartney Stevie of the 80s. I’m not sure what the Stevie of the 90s is, so I’ll just leave that one on the table.
As for 154, for me it’s kind of like a Pixies + Sisters Of Mercy thing, so I suppose it depends on how well you think that stuff has aged. 😉
And World Party? I wrote them off after the first line of “Ship Of Fools.” If anything good happened after that, it escaped me.
I just have the first on vinyl and the second on disc. Ship of Fools is my favorite song of his but the rest of that album didn’t do it for me.
I listened to Goodbye Jumbo a lot when it came out. The first three or four songs are pretty good (Put the Message in the Box and Way Down Now, I think), and there is a nice ballad about mid way through. Also, Jeff Trott guests on guitar on a few tracks and I like his playing. Still, is that enough to justify the whole album? There was nothing particularly bad on it but I’d opt for the greatest hits.
So it is written…
oh! world party. Weren’t they connected somehow to the Waterboys? I’ve always been curious what the concensus on those guys. I personally really enjoy This is the Sea, despite the overwhelming corniness of it.
Re Stevie:
Listen to James Jamerson’s bass in For Once In My Life.
Then listen to Higher Ground, or the Living Just Enough For the City song.
If you still don’t “get” Stevie then don’t sweat it. Those are pretty much the only things I like by him and so I put him in the category of Things That Diminish My Rock Snob Cred (along with not liking Pet Sounds, and liking James Williamson guitar playing better than Ron Ashton’s) and focus on maintaining my inner peace by accepting that which I cannot change.
Orockle, I appreciate your feedback on Wire’s 154. To be clear, it’s the only of the three Wire albums that I’ve considered re-buying. Even with that synth sound, I liked that album best. However, I fear that the already outdated synth sound will sound really bad after all these years, and I’ll feel not only like I’m dating a girl I ditched 20 years ago but a girl I ditched 20 years ago who hasn’t kept up with the times. I mean, will those Jordache jeans been seen as somehow ironic and hip? Is it really too late to turn back now?
On the other hand, the Orockle tells me that Stevie Wonder is best appreciated in Greatest Hits form. Stay away from those ’70s deep cuts, says the Wise One. Stay away from those ballads in praise of the Lord’s ability to give eyesight to the blind, so to speak. Stick to the fun, funky, frisky stuff – and try to fade out “Living for the City” well before the little arrest skit that takes up the last few minutes of the song, the way AM radio stations used to fade early when I was entranced by that single as a boy.
I think it is worth rebuying 154 just to see the endpoint of the band’s trajectory. They went from a band that slammed songs out live in the studio to a band that often used the studio as a conceptual tool. By 154, in fact, Wire’s producer was practically a member of the band.
So it does sound like an album that you would like, Mod.
I, too, ditched the one and only World Party CD I owned — but not before I ripped four good songs off of it. One of these — “Way Down Now” — despite its complete and utter prockist nothing-newism, is totally wonderful, and my life would be diminished by its absence.
I have to say I’m befuddled by the notion that there’s a Prince vibe to that album. To me it’s more Lenny Kravitz — which will tell you how important I think that Kurt What’s-his-name is to the history of rock.
oh! world party. Weren’t they connected somehow to the Waterboys?
—-
Yes, Kurt was in the Waterboys and left the group to start World Party after “This is the Sea” or perhaps it’s follow up. It’s Kurts backing voice at the end of “Whole of the moon” for whatever that’s worth (and if my memory serves me).
I liked World Party at the time and actually agree with the press who think Goodbye Jumbo is the best (though flawed). The first album to me has weaker songs overall but “Ship of Fools” is one of the stronger cuts he has. I would agree with Alex that Egyptology (second to Jumbo, IMO) is one of his overall stronger albums. Bang probably the worst of the first 4. His songs sometimes tend to go on a bit to long and can get a bit boring. It’s strange per he tends to have a concept feel to his albums but I think one would be better to cherry pick songs off his albums.
His career was interrupted with a serious medical illness that laid him up for over a year or two I believe. Don’t recall the details.
Regarding Stevie..
I’d go with “Superstition” or “Boogie on Reggae Woman” (you probably know them already so a lot of help that is).
Regarding Wire…Is is just me or is “Outdoor Minor” one terrific pop song? Do they have a better “pop moment”?
World Party is a band that to me is great in small doses. After a handful of songs, good as they might be, the realization sinks in that there is nothing there beyond the influences, and after a few songs that “remarkable simulation” fails to pay any dividends. I saw them live a few years ago and it was the same thing as listening to a record. Even the “best” songs that came towards the middle or end of the concert were too boring.
cdm, I wonder if that’s what you are experiencing with Goodbye Jumbo. Listen to it last song to first; might be interesting to see if you enjoy the first 3 or 4 that way and then it tails off.
“Way Down Now” shoulda been a keeper. There was a good, 6-minute Lennon-type song on side 2 that I also wish I still owned. I was amazed to learn that the Orockle knew of a third and fourth World Party album. And did that guy ever take his glasses off? He even copped a Jeff Lynne Look, no?
Do not buy 154. You are just doing it to in a vain attempt to relate to folks that you respect who have an affection for Wire. They will merely wonder how you could feel compelled to buy 154 in lieu of Pink Flag.
“Way Down Now” is an essential purchase if you have a desire to make a compilation CD of songs which are clearly an homage to Sympathy for the Devil. I, myself, have aspired to make such a compilation myself. There was World Party, “Sympathy for the Mekons” by the Mekons, “Dig Down” by Bobby Bare Jr.. Oh great Orockle, could you provide me some more nominations to fill this thing out to a respectable length?
There’s been a lot of snow here in central Connecticut the last month. My iPod shuffle currently has only the Motown hits on it and that’s what I’ve listened to while shoveling all those flakes.
Several thoughts were crystalized (pun intended) during these hours. I wanted to share them with RTH but hadn’t figured out a clever way to do it.
One such thought was that, of all the heavyweight Motown acts (Temps, Tops, Marvin, Diana Ross/Supremes, Martha Reeves, Marvelettes, Smokey, Jackson 5, Stevie), when it comes to greatest hits, Stevie comes in last place. It’s not even close.
Did any of the rest of them have hits as lame/insipid as You Are The Sunshine of My Life, A Place In The Sun, My Cherie Amour, or For Once In My Life?
The Orockle wrote:
But earlier, oh Seeing One, you said that I should re-buy the album because it was so producer driven. I liked that piece of advice, and I have to admit, I’m even more convinced that I need to re-buy 154 to stick it to those Pink Flag fans. I used to own that album too, yet I’ve never felt compelled to re-buy it, especially after revisiting it a few years back. What I do remember thinking was better than the first times I’d heard it was Chairs Missing. I skipped that one way back when. Feeling confused, but more confident than ever in your accumulated wisdom.
If I may speak for the Orockle, although Martha Reeves and the Marvelettes are the Orockle’s least-favorite Motown bands that, the Orockle believes, warranted one of those triple-album anthologies from the ’70s, the point raised about Stevie Wonder’s ’60s Motown hits is valid. The Stevie Anthology from the ’70s gets spun less often than any of the other anthologies by the artists you mention – excluding Martha Reeves and the Marvelettes, of which the Orockle owns only a few hit songs on compilations. There are a couple of fantastic Stevie Wonder songs from his pre-independence days in the early ’70s, such as “If You Really Love Me” and “Signed, Sealed, Delivered,” but there’s a lot of crap too. HOWEVER, the Orockle has no beef with “You Are The Sunshine of My Life” and “For Once In My Life.” These songs, so the Orockle tells me, express a playful, sexy, yet innocent sense of joy that no artist expresses better than Stevie Wonder. Does he toe the line of sappiness, that other side of the line where you’ll find “My Cherie Amour”? CERTAINLY! But at least he didn’t sing the same song 4 times over, like Ms. Reeves and her Vandellas.
The Orockle would like to know, What is a Vandella, anyway?
It does seem that there would be more homages to “Sympathy for the Devil.” It is wise, Geo, that you consulted the Orockle on this issue.
Orockle, as I ponder other homages to “Sympathy for the Devil” I’m listening to Eric Burdon and the Animals’ “Don’t Bring Me Down.” As I listen to the choruses in that song, are the fuzz guitar chords at the end of Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime” meant to be an homage to this Animals song or are the similarities strictly coincidental?
Now I am listening to “When I Was Young.” Heavy!
“They then called themselves Martha and the Vandellas, taking their name from Detroit street Van Dyke and Reeve’s favorite singer Della Reese”. From http://www.history-of-rock.com/vandellas.htm
When the song is as good as Heat Wave, I think I’ll listen to it in several variations before taking the Wonder songs I mentioned.
The Orockle is surprised that you skipped Chairs Missing and pluged straight into the naval-gazing 154. The Orockle has previously mentioned above the pure pop pleasure “Outdoor Miner” to be found on Chairs Missing. The songs on their typically have the compositional heft that you require to consider them something other than “fragments”. The Orockle believes you should consider buying the one original Wire release that you passed up entirely. It is spoken.
“oo-oo.”
Townsman Al’s reference to the claim that ‘Detroit’s VanDyke street’ was the source for the Vandella’s name triggered in my brain a Orocklean response worthy of Officer Gunther Toody – ooh! ooh! to wit:
Earl VanDyke was the organist, arranger, and pit leader of the Motown House band now known as the ‘Funk Brothers’ – could this be a mere co-inkydink? Or is it perhaps some intentional obfuscation?
Good stuff Maynard: dvd viddy ‘Standing in the Shadows of Motown’ detailing the history of Earl VanDyke and the Funk Brothers, including a concert reunion of the surviving members.
geo wrote
Loaded by Primal Scream. Maybe Come Together too. Actually Primal Scream’s whole career could be seen as a series of attempts to rewrite Sympathy for the Devil.
154 has its pleasures, but it’s definitely the sound of a band falling apart. I say you should skip it and head for the 80s Wire, the second version of the group. I had totally ignored those records the first go ’round, because I thought I was too cool for synthesizers. Lately I was so bowled over by the 00’s Wire, that I dove headfirst into those heavily sequenced albums, and I found them really cool, much better than I had been led to believe.
Question.
Why Starbuck?
You may not speak for the Orockle but the Orockle may speak thru you. The Orockle is manifested by the collective and not the individual.
The Orockle has spoken…thru me.
You may not speak for the Orockle but the Orockle may speak thru you. The Orockle is manifested by the collective and not the individual.
True. And given it is collective then I submit all of us are responsible for typos such as in Outdoor Minor, for example. I will sleep good tonight, the Orockle deems it so.
Is anyone on RTH a serious runner and, more importantly, an informed critic of other people’s running style? A specialization in short- or long-distance running is not necessary for the job I have in mind, but the ability to analyze both styles of running will be helpful. Speak through the Orockle or contact me offlist if you think you may be of service. Thanks.
I can see how some of the others could grate, but not For Once In My Life. That kind of surprises me.
I’m a big Motown fan, but of all the big names, the Supremes have always done the least for me, especially when considering their standing among their peers. Am I alone in that?
I hate to admit it, but Heat Wave has been forever ruined for me by Jerry Blavat. I can’t hear it now without mentally filling in his patter over it, which really pains me.
Stevie Wonder in the 70s, when I think he did his best work, reminds me of film directors like Robert Altman and Hal Ashby. Like Altman and Ashby, almost everything Wonder did was interesting, not all of it was successful, and some of it was rather pretentious.
But as in the case of Nashville, Shampoo, and McCabe and Mrs Miller, Wonder’s records dance at the edge of the mainstream, at times encouraging his audience to see things differently.
Good comparison, Dr. John!
Alex, one of the other conclusions I reached (actually, I’d reached it long ago but it was just verified all over again) during all the snow shoveling was that both the Marvelettes and especially Martha & the Vandellas had it all over the Supremes. I’m not a fan of Diana Ross because of her diva personality and the way she cut out the others but I don’t think that’s affecting my opinions here. A couple months back I ventured the opinion that the 10 best Tops songs were better than the 10 best Temps songs and didn’t get a lot of support here in the Hall. I gotta think that stating that the top 10 Martha & the Vandellas songs are better – make that way better – than the top 10 Supremes songs would gather a lot more support.
As a huge Sinatra fan, it could be that some of my animus towards For Once In My Life and You Are The Sunshine Of My Life is based on Frank’s renditions. Of course, that never made me dislike the Beatles Something!
Being away from Philly for 30+ years now, I’d love to hear more of the Geator. I just bought, but have yet to listen to, an aircheck of a complete hour – songs, patter, news, commercials – of Hy Lit on WIBG-AM back in 1967.
The Orockle wrote:
The Orockle must add that the great support that would gather for this statement is fueled by the fact that the typical Townsman has NO SHOT at bedding a young Diana Ross while a young Martha Reeves and any of the Vandellas and Marvelettes might have been attainable.
The Orockle is saddened by the rock nerd community’s inability to appreciate the unparalelled greatness of The Supremes among female Motown groups without having to at least qualify their personal beefs with Ms. Ross. At times like this the Orockle wants to crank up his beaten copy of The Supremes’ Greatest Hits and tell the rock nerd world to go to hell, clutching their subpar, less-flashy recordings by underdog women singers of the ’60s, like Dusty Springfield. The Orockle would like to do all this, but he is a man of peace and great compassion. Rather, he hopes to one day love you out of your hangups with The Surpremes. Meet him on the dance floor next time “Back in My Arms Again” or “Come See About Me” is blasting.
You know you guys have been getting into oracular channeling and saying “he,” but in the western, i.e., Greek, tradition, oracles were priestesses.
Mr. Mod or sammy or somebody: Rules must be laid out for when and how one can speak in the third person Orockular because I have a difficult time knowing how and to whom to respond to missives delivered in this way.
On a character level, Diana Ross appears to have f*&^ed her way to the top with the boss and didn’t appear to care who else got f^&*ed in the meantime. I also felt personally betrayed when I learned that on the Supremes farewell single “Someday We’ll Be Together” it wasn’t really the other Supremes singing with her. Some may call it back story, but that spoiled that song for me to a certain degree.
Musically, I think too often – and more and more frequently as the Supremes became Diana Ross & The Supremes – they crossed over that delicate line that Motown so often navigated so well between soul/R&B and pop, tending too far to the pop side. Martha Reeves & The Vandellas had the heavier foot on the soul/R&B side.
Now, you’ll never get me dissing pop, here or anywhere else. I know there are some RTH-ers who view the term pop music as a perjorative. I love ’60s pop. And if you count Herman’s Hermits, Dusty, Tom Jones, Glen Campbell, The Association, Bobby Rydell, Tommy James and a host of others in that category, fine with me, I love ’em all. Lots of great songs but they don’t match the best of Motown, when it straddled that line so perfectly.
And I love the Supremes; they had lots of great songs, especially the two you cited. Hey, they had H-D-H in their prime writing for and producing them, how could you go wrong.
I’m just saying that Martha Reeves & The Vandellas were better.
Ten Best Supremes Songs:
1. Where Did Our Love Go?
2. Baby Love
3. Come See About Me
4. Stop! In The Name Of Love
5. Back In My Arms Again
6. Nothing But Heartaches
7. My World Is Empty Without You
8. Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart
9. You Can’t Hurry Love
10. You Keep Me Hanging On
(I’m skipping that post Diana period. Some great songs there but they came too heavy on the other side. It’s a tribute to some of these songs that they could mix a relevant theme a la psychedelic soul – Love Child or Living In Shame – with the pop/soul mix and still come out with winners.)
Best Martha Reeves Songs:
1. Jimmy Mack
2. Honey Chile
3. (We’ve Got) Honey Love
4. Come & Get These Memories
5. Heat Wave
6. Quicksand
7. Dancing In The Street
8. Nowhere To Run
9. I’m Ready For Love
10.Third Finger Left Hand
Looking at these off the top of my head lists, I’m willing to back off insofar as it’s a closer contest than my first post said but I still think The Supremes come in second. And if you don’t agree I’d suggest going back and listening to these not so ubiquitous Martha Reeves cuts and see if you don’t come over to my side of the fence. (And don’t let Bowie & Jagger’s Dancing In The Street color you view the way that Sinatra’s Stevie Wonder covers affect me.)
Go ahead, just listen to (We’ve Got) Honey Love and tell me that’s not a stone cold soul classic that you just don’t hear often enough. Diana Ross on her best day couldn’t sing that song as well as Martha Reeves does.
The Supremes never really did it for me. Perhaps they seemed a little too polished (a problem that I ave with Motown in general).
Even though I only know about 4-5 Martha Reeves songs, Heatwave alone offsets the entire Supremes catalog for me.
I will grant the Orockle that Martha Reeves cranked out some tasty songs, most of which had more grit than The Supremes’ output, but she’s no Aretha Franklin when it comes to the grit department, and with each “Heat Wave” rewrite I take points off. “Nowhere to Run” is excellent, as is “Dancing in the Street” (actually it’s The Jam’s cover of “Heat Wave” that did more unfair damage to that song than Ja-Bo’s laughable version did to “Dancing…”). “Come and Get These Memories” is also a winner. I don’t recognize a couple of these titles, but “Jimmy Mack” is only OK to me. I’d rather listen to another half dozen songs from that period with that stomp/shuffle beat.
I’ll try to track down those three songs I don’t know by title and let you know what I think. The thing for me, though, Orockle, that Diana Ross has over all other Motown women is that that I find her sexier. Not her Look necessarily, although I’ve got no beef with that, but her voice. I’m attracted to her voice. Martha Reeves just sounds like an assembly-line, strong soul belter at her best. Diana sounds like the kind of woman I’d fall for for, maybe for all the wrong reasons – but when it comes to love, who’s to argue whether reasons are right or wrong?
Too bad you can’t combine Martha Reeves’ output with more vulnerable Marvelettes songs like “Beechwood 4-5789.” That’s what’s lacking in Reeves’ catalog, if you ask me. I’m thinking this gets down to our slight differences over the Temps and the Tops. You like ’em ballsy and brassy; you’re a guy who wants it and you want it now. I’m more of an old-fashioned love man, generating my heat from the sweet talk and meaningful glances.
Dear Orockle:
How much does the sound on the currently available two CD version of Quadrophenia suck in comparison to the sound on the record?
Thanks to RTH and the Orockle I am over my guilt about not be a Stevie Wonder fan and I won’t be pursuing it further. Thanks Orockle!
On the Supremes: Last year my fiance and I spent Christmas (two weeks actually) in Aruba. DO NOT spend two weeks in Aruba, by the way).
I was bored to tears, so when future Mrs.NorthVanCoveMan mentioned that some old singer she couldn’t remember the name of was playing at the Casino, and we could get a three course meal and a ticket for $75, well I jumped at the chance. Turned out it was Mary Wilson and the show was surprisingly good.
Mary is known as the “nice” Supreme and is truly wonderful. When I felt I grabbed her shoulder a bit too hard in a picture we got with her I said “Sorry, Mary you’re being handled” She said “Handle me some more sugar!”.
Mod,
BTW, The keyboard player in my band was a world class 10K runner in college. I could put him in touch if you like.
If he’s good at critiquing the running form of others and knows and has a sense of humor, yes, send him my way. Thanks. Or should I thank the Orockle?
Hey Northvancoveman,
Did you hear “Kokomo” by the Beach Boys while in Aruba? I think that’s the song that mentions Aruba. When we were there about 5 years ago it seemed like it was their national anthem. It seemed to be playing everywhere. This is not a good thing. And again, this from a guy that likes “Sunflower”.
I think the Mod has accidentally switched from channeling The Orockle to channeling Michael Jackson. You’re not gonna start calling her Miss Ross, are you?
Nobody ended up mentioning the Supremes song I’d rate highest, Reflections.
BigSteve raises a valid point in calling out the genderification of The Orockle. As The Orockle is the collective I think it would be correct to use either or neither gender.
But given the fact that all of us participating are male…
Regarding, I think, Al’s comment about the use of the third person “Orockle”. I don’t think it is appropriate to invoke (evoke?) the Orockle as if speaking thru you. I am guilty of this myself above.
You can though refer to The Orockle in reference to anything that anyone has said as well as a generalization of what several have said.
I hope this serves the process and pleases The Orockle.
The orockle speaks:
Anybody who wants bold n’ brassy, smart n’ sassy, want-it-all-and-want-it-right-now music should stop digging through Motown’s deep traxx in a fruitless effort to find some, and just listen to Stax instead. Virtually any artist will do, but in terms of girlie artists, I particularly recommend:
Ruby Johnson
Mable John
Jeanne and the Darlings
you guys are creeping me out.
sat, I think they all just found a use for those snuggies they got for xmas!
https://www.getsnuggie.com/flare/next?tag=ED|SM|GO|TM|
I would like to take the opportunity to say that I really really like the Boston Spaceships album. I also really really ignored Guided By Voices. So if I wanted to check out some GBV and was hoping it was fun and catchy like Boston Spaceships, where would I start? Pollard has more albums out than Frank Zappa and Ryan Adams combined, I think. Some of them are bound to be less spectacular than others. Where do I start?
I think this is an ideal situation for the Best Of: “Human Amusements at Hourly Rates”. I don’t own it but I have most of the songs on it and if I were making a mix for someone, it would be fairly close to that disc. I think it captures the scope of GBV pretty well.
If you feel like you need to hear a whole album than I would recommend (based on the fact that you are digging the Boston Spaceship disc) :
Isolation Drills – Some are put off by its (relatively) glossy production but not me. It has some really good songs on it (Glad Girls, Chasing Heather Crazy, Brides have Hit Glass, Fair Touching).
Under the Bushes Under the Stars is somewhere between the low-fi and Isolation Drills.
Of the latter day discs, I would opt for Universal Truths and Cycles
If you can stomach the extremely low-fi quality, I think that their best stuff is unquestionably Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes (and to a lesser degree Propeller). But this stuff was recorded on a 4-track cassette in a basement and in addition to excellent songs, it’s chock full of out of tune guitars, clams, dodgy harmonies, tracks randomly cutting out, etc. I fully understand why a lot of people don’t like it but I find it fascinating.
Yes, that single-CD, 30-song Best of is the place to start – and maybe to end, if you’re like me. Years ago a friend gave me Bee Thousand and made me listen to it and a bunch of other albums that he taped me or played in his presece. The stuff was so uneven that I couldn’t take it. Then I saw them live and they sucked. When the best of album came out, though, I heard a few songs and they sounded good. I bought a copy and I still play it and enjoy it thoroughly. I then asked another friend who was always pushing GBV on me if she could make me a mix CD of another 20 songs that she thought I might liked. The mix has some good songs that I remember my friends playing me way back when, but it’s right back to being wildly uneven.
Thanks, Orockle. I think I’d be plenty good with stuff recorded on a 4 track. I mean, it’s only four guys, right? How many more tracks do you need? I think I’m more than fine with the more primitive stuff. The GH sounds like a good idea, since I really have the feeling Pollard can slip qucikly. Boston Spaceships is excellent, but it’s not perfect. Still In Rome is wearing its welcome out and getting me ready for the skip button as it really brings down a fun time. All in all, it’s a really solid and fun album, though.
Isolation Drills rules. I haven’t liked anything else by them nearly as much. I too couldn’t deal with Bee Thousand.
I would go with Alien Lanes, a good transition point between the early, noisy, 15 second song records and their more mature phase. Plus, it has some of GBV’s best songs: “My Valuable Hunting Knife,” “Watch Me Jumpstart.”