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Super Bad-Ass Jedi
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quote: Originally posted by jimmyc:
Allmusic.com gave R.E.M.'s Out of Time a 2 1/2. I email them on occasion to remind them of albums they are saying are better than this breakthrough, Grammy winner (e.g. most of Winger's output). Even if you really hate Shiny Happy People, there is way too much great stuff on there to dog on it like that. Absurd.
Out of Time is a weird album because it really offers some of the best and worst moments of R.E.M.'s career. There's no in-between on that album. Every song is either brilliant ("Country Feedback", "Texarkana") or a total disaster ("Radio Song", "Shiny Happy People"). By the way, I still contend that "Radio Song" is a far worse atrocity than "Shiny Happy People". Surely someone spoke up against the idea of having KRS-1 do a guest rap on the album's lead song. Peter? Bill? Mike? Anyone?
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Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold.
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| Posts: 5263 | Location: Michigan | Registered: 19 June 2005 | |
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Jedi
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Oh, it's all so fashionable to whack Shiny Happy People , a song full of melody and glorious chord changes, endearing goofiness and a lingering sense of genuine joy. Forever in the annals of rock music criticism is the spite directed anything remotely childlike or free of cynicism. Too many listeners can't bring themselves to trust acts who give us songs free of irony, songs that don't wink at us as they leave the space. Stipe clearly means what he sings. The band clearly believe in writing a song of joy. This knee jerk criticism of emotion not normally expressed in rock music is equally the reason so many wrote off Jonathan Richman when he left behind his original Modern Lovers and turned to songs of wonder, pathetically dismissed as 'twee'. And perhaps the rap in Radio Song is not crash hot, but its' a small part of what is otherwise a terrific number. For my part, the greatest song on Out of Time, and one of the most stunning songs of the last 30 years is Me in Honey. Fucking astonishing. A particle accelarator dressed up as rock...."there's a fly in the honey, baby's got a baby with me..."
'for my purpose holds to sail beyond the sunset, and the baths of all the western stars, until I die.'
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| Posts: 2155 | Location: The ever silent spaces of the East | Registered: 12 February 2007 | |
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Enthusiast
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quote: Originally posted by Kulturtrager:
Oh, it's all so fashionable to whack Shiny Happy People , a song full of melody and glorious chord changes, endearing goofiness and a lingering sense of genuine joy.
Forever in the annals of rock music criticism is the spite directed anything remotely childlike or free of cynicism. Too many listeners can't bring themselves to trust acts who give us songs free of irony, songs that don't wink at us as they leave the space.
Stipe clearly means what he sings. The band clearly believe in writing a song of joy. This knee jerk criticism of emotion not normally expressed in rock music is equally the reason so many wrote off Jonathan Richman when he left behind his original Modern Lovers and turned to songs of wonder, pathetically dismissed as 'twee'.
And perhaps the rap in Radio Song is not crash hot, but its' a small part of what is otherwise a terrific number.
For my part, the greatest song on Out of Time, and one of the most stunning songs of the last 30 years is Me in Honey. Fucking astonishing. A particle accelarator dressed up as rock...."there's a fly in the honey, baby's got a baby with me..."
i second that notion. Out of Time is one of my favorite REM albums, Shiny Happy People is alson one of my favorite REM songs. |
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Guru
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quote: Originally posted by EricG75:
"Radio Song" is a far worse atrocity than "Shiny Happy People". Surely someone spoke up against the idea of having KRS-1 do a guest rap on the album's lead song. Peter? Bill? Mike? Anyone?
That's a real dog's dinner of a song. It has no idea what it wants to be, and ends up all over the place. KRS-1 must have freestyled his rap in one take, because it's probably the worst, most inane piece if garbage he's ever committed to record. It probably seemed like a good idea at the time, and in fairness, it was before the days that it was obligatory for every pop song to have a guest rapper, but it's still in the worst 5 or 6 songs REM have ever recorded. You're right though, Out Of Time has some amazing highs on it, and some dreadful turds.
"I know that human beings and fish can co-exist peacefully"
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| Posts: 816 | Location: Glasgow | Registered: 21 December 2006 | |
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Guru
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I can understand not liking it, but Pitchfork just slapped the Black Kids record with a 0.0 and then didn't even have the balls to explain why.
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Awkwardness happening to someone you love!
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| Posts: 860 | Location: Boston, MA | Registered: 14 May 2004 | |
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Know-It-All
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hmmm? I see Rating: 3.3 and a picture of two dogs. Does seem to be a rather, well, shit, review. Incidentally, I should listen to that record sometime, as I like the one song I've heard from it.
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Guru
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They recently changed it to a 3.3. When I checked it at about 6:30 this morning, it was a stone cold 0.0.
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Awkwardness happening to someone you love!
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| Posts: 860 | Location: Boston, MA | Registered: 14 May 2004 | |
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Know-It-All
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quote: Originally posted by Platypus Quest:
I can understand not liking it, but Pitchfork just slapped the Black Kids record with a 0.0 and then didn't even have the balls to explain why.
Neither a 0.0 nor a 3.3 score makes sense. It's an insanely fun, catchy record which includes all four songs off the Wizards of Ahhhs EP which the 'fork loved. But if they're going to dole out an absurd score, they might as well follow it up with an absurd review. |
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Jedi
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I found the EP somewhat enjoyable but despise the album. Why? Because all of the decent songs I heard months ago (on the EP). Really, the album is a mess and I find it incredibly lazy slapping on four songs already featured previously on their EP. If you want a fun, catchy record go with The Hilotrons Happymatic. ---------------------------------- Employee of the month awards are the opiate of the masses. For the potheadsGang Starr |
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| Posts: 3688 | Location: ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha | Registered: 18 October 2004 | |
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Know-It-All
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quote: Originally posted by Mike Angelo:
I found the EP somewhat enjoyable but despise the album. Why? Because all of the decent songs I heard months ago (on the EP). Really, the album is a mess and I find it incredibly lazy slapping on four songs already featured previously on their EP. If you want a fun, catchy record go with The Hilotrons Happymatic.
Nah, I'll just stick with this one. I never listened to the EP, so maybe that's why I enjoy this record more than Pitchfork and others. And I find the title track, "I'm Making Eyes At You", and "Look at Me(When I Rock Whichoo)" all to be just as good as the four previously released songs. |
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Guru
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quote: Originally posted by Vypa: quote: Originally posted by Mike Angelo:
I found the EP somewhat enjoyable but despise the album. Why? Because all of the decent songs I heard months ago (on the EP). Really, the album is a mess and I find it incredibly lazy slapping on four songs already featured previously on their EP. If you want a fun, catchy record go with The Hilotrons Happymatic.
Nah, I'll just stick with this one. I never listened to the EP, so maybe that's why I enjoy this record more than Pitchfork and others. And I find the title track, "I'm Making Eyes At You", and "Look at Me(When I Rock Whichoo)" all to be just as good as the four previously released songs.
Totally. I like "I'm Making Eyes at You" quite a bit, more than anything from the EP. I also don't understand how they can tag the EP with a "Best New Music" tag (or was it just "Recommended"...?) and slap the LP with such a low score when the EP songs are all contained in the LP!! The LP review was, in a word, LAZY.
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Awkwardness happening to someone you love!
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| Posts: 860 | Location: Boston, MA | Registered: 14 May 2004 | |
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Apprentice Guru
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sure, the Pitchfork review didn't require any effort whatsoever, but it got a lot of people talking about it. So I think it did its job, even if it doesn't offer any real information.
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Guru
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Lol, it would be so awesome if Partie Tramatic ended up in their top 50 of '08 list. It's sad knowing now that they basically killed the hype of this band for those who read Pitchfork... unless people don't take their score and "review" seriously.
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"You're half the man Peter Pan could have been"
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| Posts: 668 | Location: Somewhere in Canada | Registered: 20 December 2006 | |
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Apprentice Guru
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To be fair, the EP was pretty good, but I was kind of expecting it to be a fluke.
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Know-It-All
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The sorry could also be to Black Kids themselves, for hyping them too early or whatever. Either way, I'm not so sure the band is in tears or anything - they're playing festivals, gonna appear on tele and doing nice in the UK charts aren't they?
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