I remember Ice screwed the pooch earlier about TSOOL. I've got my copy of Vol.1 right here next to my stereo, and I'll live if I miss a couple of songs. As far as I understand, they have 40 other tracks ready for distribution, but who knows if their company will pay for them to ALL be released. They better make some money this tour if I wanna hear all of 'em.

quote:

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Originally posted by mark f:
I remember _Ice_ screwed the pooch earlier about TSOOL. I've got my copy of Vol.1 right here next to my stereo, and I'll live if I miss a couple of songs. As far as I understand, they have 40 other tracks ready for distribution, but who knows if their company will pay for them to ALL be released. They better make some money this tour if I wanna hear all of 'em.

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I have more faith in ICE on this go around, if only because it was an INTERVIEW with the band. When I get the new one, mark, I can burn you the extra songs and send 'em to you.

In the interview, he (the singer...can't recall his name) admits to having over 50 songs ready and at least 30 more written. Boxed set, guys?

I finally heard a track from the new album. WOXY just spun "Heading for a Breakdown."

They didn't forward promote it, so I heard it cold and had to click through because I was thinking, "What's THAT? Sounds good," which is always a good sign.

I'm looking forward to it.

Now Playing: "Moon Child" M83 streaming on WOXY

I stand by everything I said months ago when I got my import copy. If you love '60s rock and roll, this is a great album. If you love music which is inspired by '60s rock and roll, this is a great album. If you think you're cooler than shit and call certain aspects of rock and roll "folk", such as Pitchfork does in their by-the-numbers review, then you won't like it. It's great. Pitchfork calls Origin Vol. 1 "by the numbers" and produces a "by the numbers" review. It's too predictable to even be ironic.

quote:

Originally posted by mark f:
If you think you're cooler than shit and call certain aspects of rock and roll "folk", such as Pitchfork does in their by-the-numbers review, then you won't like it. It's great. Pitchfork calls Origin Vol. 1 "by the numbers" and produces a "by the numbers" review. It's too predictable to even be ironic.

I'm just glad I didn't say that, or I'd be getting an earful now.

I'm not sure why Pitchfork has a bug up their butt about TSOOL. Given some of the extraordinarily mediocre stuff they laud (The Rapture, anyone?), I guess they just don't care for the rock and/or roll. Maybe it's just not indie enough...but I'd be willing to bet they would have been ALL OVER Ebbot's former band, Union Carbide Productions, had they been around in the UCP era. It was for more experimental than TSOOL, and probably cooler for that reason.

Oh, and your reviews of the record were solid: it's excellent. And it rocks!

I was reading an interview with TSOOL in an Atlanta music mag, and Ebbot says that between the two volumes of Origin (the second will be slower and "more lysergic") will come a compilation of singles, b-sides, and rarities. More TSOOL goodness!!!!

I heard one or two songs off Soundtrack's new album..

They are in the 'really good instrumentation, but lackluster songwriting' category in my book, along with Dead Meadow.

My Recent TSOOL Concert Review

Sadly, a lousy review of TSOOL in Rolling Stone. You'd think, given their reverence for classic rock styled music that TSOOL would be right up RS's alley, but no. They were almost harder on them than Pitchfork...

The funny thing about Stone is that they printed up TSOOL's Behind the Music as one of the top 50 albums of 2002, but if you check their archives, they give it ***. The new one gets **1/2. Big difference. Stone is blowin' in the wind, just like Dylan said. TSOOL, their fans and I have nothing to be ashamed of. It's all over the board what I think, so I'll shut up. You can criticize them for whatever fault you find, and you can also do the same thing for every band YOU LOVE! What's the point? Just love what you love, but try not to write off great bands because of one or two songs or because it seems convenient due to some collection of reviews. What's scarier is don't do the opposite due to the opposite set of circumstances! (Ha!)

I haven't put much stock in Rolling Stone's music reviews in a long time. They're such a part of the corporate machine, they're afraid to pan anything. I look at their web site, and it's nearly all 3 star reviews. Except, of course, when someone really huge trots out a new album. You can be relatively certain Eric Clapton's next turd gets 4 or 5 friggin' stars.

Back to the actual topic. I'm not super impressed with TSOOL. I picked up "Behind the Music" after it got some decent press, but I was pretty underwhelmed. Some of the songs are okay, but it seems to be like a pastiche of various successful alterna-rock bands. I think they lack a real unique sound.

Aside from their sound, they do indeed have the stupidest band name ever. Including Oingo-Boingo.

mark (and other TSOOL fans):

CHeck out the latest record by Nicolai Dunger called This Cloud Is Learning, out on Overcoat (a Parasol label). I picked up a used copy on a recommendation from a friend only to find that the backing band for Dunger are his fellow Swedes TSOOL.

Unlike the Hederos and Hellberg record (which was almost too sedate to enjoy), this is a more varied record. Dunger's voice is nice, and the record has a Nick Drake/Beck (circa Sea Change) vibe to it.

I'm sure Mark F will be interested...there's a double-disc Swedish import coming out in December called A Present from the Past which compiles 32 rare and unreleased tracks from The Soundtrack of Our Lives. It's being released as a present to the band's longtime fans worldwide, although I doubt a domestic release will happen. You can preorder it from Parasol and Amazon, for sure...

Thanks for the tip! I'll check it out along with that Paul Kelly album which was supposed to be released domestically by now.

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Originally posted by mark f:
Thanks for the tip! I'll check it out along with that Paul Kelly album which was supposed to be released domestically by now.

Paul Kelly and the Stormwater Boys' Foggy Highway is, in fact, out domestically. It's on Cooking Vinyl in the US and came out in October. The first US pressing comes with a 4-song bonus disc...

Let me know what you think of it guys. I've been enjoying it down here for a few months now. It may make it into my top ten, but more likely be one of those albums that just keeps giving me joy for years and years, without every reay trying.