I just call Band of Horses a combination between two more (alt) country "horse" bands: Sparklehorse and Crazy Horse.

Y'all are crazy. Band of Horses is one of the few genuinely nice surprises of the year.

If you wanna talk dissapointments, let us discuss the overhype behind The Arctic Monkeys.

I like the Monkeys well enough (I don't believe in backlash), but I haven't heard the Horses yet.

For me, Destroyer's "Rubies" was a big letdown. I have not listened to Dan Bejar earlier, and I just cannot stand his singing style at all. I can not get past the third song of the album without having to stop the record. But other than that, I don't see the appeal in the songs either. Nothing special at all.

I'm pretty disappointed by Big City Rock's album. It got a good review at AMG, and an extremely good one at Amazon, and it's really ... mediocre. The singer is boring and uncharismatic, and the songs aren't that great. And they're bandwagoners.

That Beirut album that everybody's going crazy about is nothing special. I kinda thought it would be.

quote:

ericg75
Jedi
Posted 18 April 2006 02:57 PM
Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs - Under the Covers vol. 1

I like Sweet. I like Hoffs. I like most of the songs on the album. But somehow those three things are not, as I anticipated, a recipe for success. Between the two of them, they've managed to drain the life out of

I look at it this way. A+ for song selection. D- for execution. They truly do ruin nearly everyone of these covers.

I saw Hootie and the Blowfish try to cover Santana's Black Magic Woman at some free concert a few year's back and they just couldn't pull it off.

Bottomline...it's okay for A-tier talent, ala Bruce, to deliver a cover album of other A-Tier talent's songs, but Sweet and Hoffs are C-Tier at best...just proves how good and special the truly great artists really are.

My suggestion is people use the Under the Covers sequence and make a compilation of all the originals. Will be ten times better.

quote:

Originally posted by Illiniq:

I look at it this way. A+ for song selection. D- for execution. They truly do ruin nearly everyone of these covers.

I saw Hootie and the Blowfish try to cover Santana's Black Magic Woman at some free concert a few year's back and they just couldn't pull it off.

Bottomline...it's okay for A-tier talent, ala Bruce, to deliver a cover album of other A-Tier talent's songs, but Sweet and Hoffs are C-Tier at best...just proves how good and special the truly great artists really are.

My suggestion is people use the Under the Covers sequence and make a compilation of all the originals. Will be ten times better.

I like Under the Covers, Vol. I. It isn't great, and the song selection -- for Sweet and Hoffs' voices -- can be questionable. But I think the harmonies work very well, for the most part, and some of the songs -- e.g., Sunday Morning, Care of Cell No. 44, Different Drum -- are great, high energy power pop.

I also can't agree that Sweet and/or Hoffs are C-tier talent. They may not be on the "A list," but that's an exclusive club. Sweet had a string of very good albums in the 90s, beginning with Girlfriend and 100% Fun. And the Bangles were a very good band with a keen sense of melody and harmony. So, a solid B or B+ tier for them both, in my opinion.

Well, I personally consider them worthy of being "A-Talent". My list has nothing to do with Variety or the Hollywood Reporter, let alone PF, RS, Spin, or AMG, but I'm an entity unto myself, so BE IT!

quote:

Originally posted by mark f:
Well, I personally consider them worthy of being "A-Talent". My list has nothing to do with Variety or the Hollywood Reporter, let alone PF, RS, Spin, or AMG, but I'm an entity unto myself, so BE IT!

Yeah, I don't want to be misunderstood as denegrating either Sweet or Hoffs. I think they're both great. And, in retrospect, I do think they both belong on the "A-list." I first thought that an "A-list" should be very exclusive, but when I began thinking about who I'd put on it alongside the obvious choices, I think they both merit inclusion.(n.1)

___________________________________
(n.1) I'd put Husker Du, The Replacements, R.E.M., The Cure, Spoon, The New Pornographers, Iron & Wine, Low, among many others, on my "A-list."

Amen, Brother!

Morrissey - Ringleader of the Tormentors: Actually, I shouldn't have really been all that disappointed in this. After all, when was the last time Moz's solo career was any good?

I've been listening to this album nonstop for 2 weeks now, and I really enjoy it, I'd count it as one of my favorite releases of the year. Up there with Destroyer and Neko Case. Not much love for fox confessor on here, but it really needs to be given a few spins to be appreciated, The needle has landed is an amazing tune. Howe Gelb has been getting a lot of hype with reviewers and I find it almost unlistenable.

quote:

Up there with Destroyer and Neko Case. Not much love for fox confessor on here, but it really needs to be given a few spins to be appreciated, The needle has landed is an amazing tune. Howe Gelb has been getting a lot of hype with reviewers and I find it almost unlistenable.

Agreed — Fox Confessor is fantastic. Case's live show really secured her as my #1 for a while.

I have a hard time getting through Gelb's disc, too, if only because it strikes me as a superficial stab at soulful folk. I get a little tired of the choir — it's the kind of thing I imagine Springsteen would do, and do a lot better. I've shelved it for a while, but I plan to return to it after a while.

Speaking of Springsteen, the Seeger Sessions are great. I'm vehemently opposed to cover albums (tributes bore me; they risk nothing), but this works for me.

Thee More Shallows "monkey vs. shark" ep is a little disappointing. I was hoping for something a little less bland and monotonous.

quote:

Originally posted by hudson:
Thee More Shallows "monkey vs. shark" ep is a little disappointing. I was hoping for something a little less bland and monotonous.

I agree. The Al Green cover is good, but other than that, it was pretty weak. I'll wait until their next full-length comes out, though, until I dismiss them as a one-album fluke band (I'm not a huge fan of their first record, A History of Sport Fishing.)

quote:

Not much love for fox confessor on here, but it really needs to be given a few spins to be appreciated, The needle has landed is an amazing tune. Howe Gelb has been getting a lot of hype with reviewers and I find it almost unlistenable.

Make note, I love Destroyer, but on Fox Confessor and Gelb, we couldn't see things more differently...I've probably given Confessor ten concentrated front to back spins now due to all praise on this board, but I have to stop...Arab Stap has grown on me a bit so Fox is now flat out my least favorite album of the year...though to be fair went back and checked out some of Neko Case's back catalog and disliked those just as much..don't deny her talent...just feel everyone has a few A-Tier talents they just can't gel with from a sensibility standpoint and for me Neko Case solo is one of those.

Speaking of Disappointments...I sense the main participants on this board have a definite pop versus hard rock/metal sensibility...but for those who dabble in metal once in a while, Tool's 10,000 Days has to be grouped in with the years major disappointments...they've never been cool per se, but there's no denying their chops or singularly sensibility, but most of this new album feels completely recycled. Not terrible, but dull, dull, dull compared to their last two releases.

quote:

I also can't agree that Sweet and/or Hoffs are C-tier talent. They may not be on the "A list," but that's an exclusive club. Sweet had a string of very good albums in the 90s, beginning with Girlfriend and 100% Fun. And the Bangles were a very good band with a keen sense of melody and harmony. So, a solid B or B+ tier for them both, in my opinion.

As I rank it.

A-Tier all-time greats or singularly original Talents ie Beatles, Stones, U2, Springsteen, Hendrix, The Clash, Radiohead, White Stripes, Dylan, Velvet Underground, Kinks, Who, Zepplin, REM, James Brown, Van Morrison, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin.

B-Tier - Not Truly Great or Consistent enough to be considered A-Tier, but still left a Formidable, indelible impression...Talking Heads, Ramones, Bowie, Creedence, Love, Doors, Replacements, Husker Du, Bob Marley, Marvin Gaye and Other Motown Bands, Sly and the Family Stone, Sabbath, Sleater-Kinney, Tool, Stevie Wonder, Roxy Music, Paul Simon, The Byrds, Eric Clapton, New Order, The Smith, Nirvana, Zappa, Captain Beefheart.

C-Tier - A cut below, but still capable of occaissional greatness - Matthew Sweet, John Cougar Mellencamp, The BoDean, The Violent Femmes, Mott the Hoople, Spirit, Cream, James Taylor, The Grateful Dead, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Cure, Pearl Jam, Steely Dan, Midnight Oil, etc. etc.

Bottomline, C-Tier isn't bad company.

Howe Gelb's newest was a disappointment. I expected that I would really dig it, considering the metacritic/p4k reviews. And the comparisons to Springsteen, one of my favorite all-time artists, probably didn't help my expectations. I only listened to it once, though, and it may grow on me with subsequent listens. But for now I'd call it pretty freakin underwhelming.

Dang Illiniq, if Marvin Gaye ain't top tier, I don't know what is. That guy is a legend if ever there was one.