Naive Harmonies - Latest Comments

Re: Mull Historical Society, “Animal Cannabus”

pscan — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:47:41 -0000

Boy did I love those first two MHS records. I haven't heard anything since then, have you? Unfortunately, those records are lost to the mists of periodic record purges, but I never knew I missed them until now. Thanks?

Re: Mull Historical Society, “Animal Cannabus”

Hans Meyer — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:30:31 -0000

I was just listening to this yesterday.

Re: Saint Etienne, “Woodcabin”

dlee — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:51:40 -0000

You're not sure why you gave Good Humor a chance? Mr. Meyer probably had something to do with it.

While I agree that Fairfax High sounds like a collection of extras, it shouldn't be dismissed. "4:35 in the Morning" is a magnificent song, and "Zipcode" is another favorite of mine..

I find most of their catalog to be hit-and-miss, but I really love the Good Humor/Fairfax High package. Don't miss Foxbase Alpha (1991), either.

Re: Saint Etienne, “Woodcabin”

Reid — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:26:05 -0000

I do have Fairfax High, but I haven't been as blown away by it as most other people. I think it sounds like a really good collection of extras, but it still sounds like a collection of extras.

Re: Saint Etienne, “Woodcabin”

Les Talusan — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:18:33 -0000

Funny you posted this - I was just listening to Good Humour. Such a great album! I was still in Manila when this came out & played it out a bunch when I DJ'd there. Do you have the 2 disc version of Good Humour, the one with Fairfax High?

Re: They say that the world was built for Fine Tune Friday

Reid — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 22:00:28 -0000

...and right there, I think you hit on why so many people are so bothered by it: because it gets so fawned over, and there's really nothing that exceptional about it.

That said, I do find that the "is that true" line doesn't leave my head for days at a time.

Re: They say that the world was built for Fine Tune Friday

Annie D. — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 21:13:05 -0000

I don't find it offensive and I don't dislike it; I just think it's kinda boring. This sounds like a melody that I start humming in the shower and try to make it into a song afterward until I remember that I can't play any instruments or write any songs.

Re: They say that the world was built for Fine Tune Friday

Reid — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 14:24:31 -0000

Maybe? But for every line that might be read as a critique, there's four others that show that it's clearly just a song that's a string of meaningless observations with a "everything I do, I do it for you"-style chorus. And if she's really pointing out the "stunted emotional capacities of men", then the song also says that she's REALLY into the stunted emotional capacities of men.

I really do love this song, but I constantly have to remind myself that it's a dumb pop song. Not that I have a problem with picking at the bad points about it, obviously...

Re: They say that the world was built for Fine Tune Friday

ivaner — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 19:27:37 -0000

I really like the version Kasabian did on BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge.

Re: They say that the world was built for Fine Tune Friday

xtianDC — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:15:26 -0000

Lyrically, maybe it's like a fight-fire-with-fire kinda thing? As in a vapid attempt to cast a light on the vapidness of men? Would that be giving it too much credit? That's the sense I get from what the Pitchfork writer was saying anyways. IE, what's the use in trying to actually commuicate to you; I give up, let's play video games.

I dunno...that's like the second time I've heard the song. I don't feel compelled to go out of my way for a third. I don't mind it. I dig the music, but the vocals less so.

I bet someone has already made a really great hip hop track with the instrumental though?

Re: They say that the world was built for Fine Tune Friday

Chris Barth — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:19:14 -0000

Avoided this song for the longest time because of this very debate. Finally listened a few weeks ago and, sorry to say, I find it quite catchy. But your analysis is dead-on. The lyrics are mostly vapid and ascribing some sort of deep meaning to the song is a fool's errand. It's a pop song in indie clothes.

As for the music, I prefer Joy Orbison's remix of "Video Games." Gives it a little more spirit than the woozy original. Hear it here: http://soundcloud.com/alanheat...

Re: The Eight Best Albums of 2011

Jonathan — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:43:18 -0000

Excellent work, Reid! (As always.) A refreshing change of pace from many of the other year-end rankings out there. Plus, I'll get behind any list that features Slow Club so prominently.

Re: I can never leave the Fine Tune Friday behind

Reid — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 12:21:21 -0000

Thanks! Yeah, maybe I was hasty in taking down that question, but you're the only one who answers them, so...this will work just fine.

I really liked the Handsome Furs record, though it made me want to DJ again. I never got around to checking out the DEJJ album, so I'll put them in my library. Thanks as always for the recommendations...

Re: I can never leave the Fine Tune Friday behind

Jonathan — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 20:25:22 -0000

Yeah, it's hard to not completely surrender to that chorus!

Abrupt segue: I'm full of regret for not responding to your Facebook post about 2011 albums, so I'll do it here. I'm not sure I would classify them as "not to be missed," but I kept returning to "Sound Kapital" by Handsome Furs and "It's a Corporate World" by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. back in the summer. (While listening to the latter, I recommended ignoring the fact that their name is Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.)

Re: Fine Tune Friday is just a window

Hans Meyer — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 18:09:14 -0000

Hey man, listen, I think the Horn Swells are great, okay? I mean I'm probably the biggest Horn Swells fan in the world. If it were up to me, it'd be Horn Swells all the time. But unfortunately it's not up to me, it's up to the kids buying the records, and I gotta tell ya, as sad as it is to say, the kids just don't like the Horn Swells. They just don't. I think they're crazy too, but they're the ones buying the records, and they don't like the Horn Swells, so the Horn Swells have got to go, capiche?

Re: A reflection/review/rambling on Achtung Baby

WJPurdy — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 06:49:30 -0000

"This was a time when “Funky Drummer” was being sampled on every other song"

...so true. And to no greater effect than on The Mekons' "Having a Party," which simultaneously prefaced and mocked the trend. But that would be another column, another time.

As for U2, the turning point in their career was "Bad," which in video game terms was the puzzle that needed to be completed before access to the next room was granted. Without it, none of this (this stuff of which you write) could've happened, and U2 would have soldiered forth on a similar path as, say, Big Country.

Re: A reflection/review/rambling on Achtung Baby

xtianDC — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 17:15:33 -0000

In addition to my grammar and typing sucking, I should consolidate my comments into one!

Anyways, I think you really did a fantastic job of distilling what makes the album so amazing. I remember being alternatively befuddled and disappointed by The Fly, when I first heard it as a pre-album single. It took hearing it in context of the album to realize that it was not only genius, it was very possibly a top 5 moment in the life of a band full of very good arguments for top 5 moments.

Re: A reflection/review/rambling on Achtung Baby

xtianDC — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 17:08:43 -0000

(I'm saying the "hey hey sha la la" is an resounding and resonating nod to the girl group era. And its sonic signature is as good an example as any of what I recall from a review once as the album's characteristic "The Berlin Wall of Sound".)

Re: A reflection/review/rambling on Achtung Baby

xtianDC — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 17:03:55 -0000

I agree. As crazy as it sounds, their cover of "Christmas, Baby Please Come Home" and "Who's Gonna Ride..." provided this music enthusiast an apt gateway to the work of Phil Spector. How can that be a bad thing?

Re: A reflection/review/rambling on Achtung Baby

pscan — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 13:40:29 -0000

Do not understand the seemingly widespread hate for Who's Gonna Ride... It's always been one of my favorites on the album, and there's a great remix on the recent box set that I've never heard before.

In my recent U2 listening, one thing that has really jumped out at me is Bono's voice and how Achtung Baby is really the best he ever sounded on record. His control and range are at their absolute peak here, and is no small part of AB's continuing appeal. It's really striking to hear how much his voice has degraded in the years since, to my ears being the main contributing factor of the relative weakness of No Line on the Horizon.

Re: A reflection/review/rambling on Achtung Baby

Eric Morse — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 09:52:01 -0000

Fantastic piece!

Re: A reflection/review/rambling on Achtung Baby

Reid — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 09:41:12 -0000

I mostly just like to write "Madchester". See? Did it again.

I don't know about obsolete, though. Remember that U2 went into the studio for Achtung Baby in 1990, the same year that Pills and Thrills and Bellyaches was released, and Screamadelica (not Manchester, but still the same sort of sound) was released in 1991. But maybe it would have been more accurate to say that they thought that Baggy was the sound of the future.

Glad you liked it!

Re: A reflection/review/rambling on Achtung Baby

Blasto — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 09:32:45 -0000

one of u2s best and luckiest but Madchester was obsolete the time U2 got to it. Now, not so much predicting the future, it's enjoying a wave of nostalgia. It was their last great reinvention.
Unforgettable Fire is the white soul boy classic though but I Will Follow is their best ever skinny punk song (also their first).
Like the piece though and yeah.

Re: A reflection/review/rambling on Achtung Baby

Reid — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 09:24:19 -0000

I really want to see that doc. I've heard it's great. And that wouldn't surprise me that Larry Mullen was forced into role as a drum machine (not that his work up to that point suggests that he would have minded at all), but that's one of the things that I love about it: as futuristic as the album was trying to be, that beat was so much of the time.

Re: A reflection/review/rambling on Achtung Baby

Meg — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 09:19:09 -0000

I just watched a documentary about the making of this album--something like From the Sky Down?--and you've nailed it, I think. The Fly and One were the brilliant inspirations and the rest were experiments as they tried to figure out who they were after being scathingly criticized after Rattle and Hum and all the Bono-ing. Poor Larry Mullen was basically told to become a drum machine, it turns out. (Side note -- my friends and I drove to a record store right after school and grabbed the album and listened to it in silence in the car. I loved it, except for Wild Horse, which I still loathe, but others were definitely more mixed.)