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Samey Artists Who Gets Away With It

Started by Misspent Boners, July 25, 2019, 11:59:29 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Jockice

It's the singer, not the song, as someone once said. Or sang.  And I'm afraid the Beastie Boys' and Dylan's voices put me right off them from the start. For some reason they are possibly the only voices that do that to me. I promise to click those links when I get home though even though others have done similar before and it hasn't changed my opinion one jot. Worth a try though.

Kalabi

You might like the instrumental stuff, that's pretty varied as well but without the voices :)

Icehaven

Laziest B-side idea ever used to be instrumental version of the A side, but I still loved some of them.

NoSleep

Quote from: icehaven on July 26, 2019, 02:37:34 PM
Laziest B-side idea ever used to be instrumental version of the A side, but I still loved some of them.

Nothing lazy about a dub mix; can lift a song to dizzy heights.

Kalabi

Wasn't that so you could sing along to your favourite pop hit? Not that I did that.

madhair60

Jockice: All Beastie Boys songs sound the same

Delete: They don't, here is proof

Jockice: Why are you so angry? Why can't you accept that someone doesn't like your precious Beastie Boys??

Delete: You said all their songs sound the same and I proved that isn't true, I don't care if you don't like them.

Jockice: Fine. They are the most varied band in the world! No musician has ever been so eclectic!!

Mate.

HAVANAGILA

I considered myself a diehard Mogwai fan for the first few albums, owning everything they did up until My Father My King, and loving Happy Songs and Mr Beast too (though I didn't bother with the singles).

But since then - ugh. The Hawk Is Howling felt so Mogwai-by-numbers it pained me, and although there's a handful of great tracks from subsequent releases, there's vast swathes of each album that leave me utterly unmoved.

Any fans out there that would like to tell me I'm wrong, and suggest some consistently rewarding Mogwai albums from the last 12 years or so?

No your not wrong, its telling they have moved into more soundtrack work though.

Bently Sheds

I bailed on Mogwai right after Mister Beast after sameyness kicked in for me. I also listened to a bit of God Is An Astronaut and couldn't work out who was doing an impression of who between them and Mogwai. Kinda sounded like they all used the same pedals, guitars, studio effects and amps.

HAVANAGILA

Quote from: Delete Delete Delete on July 26, 2019, 03:25:41 PM
No your not wrong, its telling they have moved into more soundtrack work though.

Looking at the discography, 2006 must be the jumping off point for me - I'd say Mr Beast is their last great album, although they also contributed to the wonderful soundtrack for The Fountain (where they were effectively session musicians for Clint Mansell). I found the Zidane soundtrack (and indeed the accompanying film) massively underwhelming - so plodding and unengaging, which sadly became a theme in the following decade!

I've probably heard everything from 2008 onwards at least once, and in every case I've struggled to work up the enthusiasm for more than a couple of plays. Those first 11 years, though - God, I loved em.

Inspector Norse

Quote from: Bently Sheds on July 26, 2019, 03:45:59 PM
I bailed on Mogwai right after Mister Beast after sameyness kicked in for me. I also listened to a bit of God Is An Astronaut and couldn't work out who was doing an impression of who between them and Mogwai. Kinda sounded like they all used the same pedals, guitars, studio effects and amps.

A lot of bands do that kind of epic post-rock crescendoing thing and yeah, many of them suffer from a distinct lack of variation in their musical landscape. The likes of Sigur Ros and Explosions in the Sky. Often very pretty, occasionally powerful, nice sounds and dynamics but ultimately best enjoyed in small doses.

Quote from: icehaven on July 26, 2019, 01:37:05 PM
one of them will sing a line with the other two joining in on the last word (or few words). It's one of those can't-be-unnoticed things.

That's most of the rap groups TBF & 99.9% of live rap performances.

Its hip hop harmonizing.

Kalabi

Yeah, like hype men who backup the main mc

Quote from: NoSleep on July 26, 2019, 02:40:16 PM
Nothing lazy about a dub mix; can lift a song to dizzy heights.


Absolutely, but most pop singles just strip the vocal track.

Jockice

Quote from: madhair60 on July 26, 2019, 02:50:07 PM
Jockice: All Beastie Boys songs sound the same

Delete: They don't, here is proof

Jockice: Why are you so angry? Why can't you accept that someone doesn't like your precious Beastie Boys??

Delete: You said all their songs sound the same and I proved that isn't true, I don't care if you don't like them.

Jockice: Fine. They are the most varied band in the world! No musician has ever been so eclectic!!

Mate.

Please note the use of the words 'to me' in my original post. I rest my case my lord.

On another subject, yeah, Mogwai. I  think I own three of their albums and I think it's all I need. They do some great song titles though.

And lest we forget the whole Spacemen Three/Spiritualized/Sonic Boom thing. I like a lot of it but it's making a little go a very long way.

Icehaven

Quote from: Better Midlands on July 26, 2019, 05:13:46 PM

Absolutely, but most pop singles just strip the vocal track.

Yep that's the kind I meant, not remixes but exactly the same as the A side just without the vocals.

Mantle Retractor


Absorb the anus burn


Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Oasis? They got away with it in the sense that all of their albums were commercially successful, but the shallow well was obviously dry by the time of Be Here Now.

chveik


Pauline Walnuts

Quote from: HAVANAGILA on July 26, 2019, 03:05:50 PM
I considered myself a diehard Mogwai fan for the first few albums, owning everything they did up until My Father My King, and loving Happy Songs and Mr Beast too (though I didn't bother with the singles).

But since then - ugh. The Hawk Is Howling felt so Mogwai-by-numbers it pained me, and although there's a handful of great tracks from subsequent releases, there's vast swathes of each album that leave me utterly unmoved.

Any fans out there that would like to tell me I'm wrong, and suggest some consistently rewarding Mogwai albums from the last 12 years or so?

I was over thinking something similar myself, they feel like Pink Floyd who never went on to make the Dark Side of the Moon, which would seem like a good thing™, but it's means them making weak and weaker versions of Meddle, till the end of time.

As I say, 'overthought'.

Quote from: Mantle Retractor on July 26, 2019, 08:11:22 PM
Foo Fighters. Cunts.

Oh definitely. Was dying to speak out when a girl on Facebook posted a status announcing them.as her favourite band and calling them "pioneers"...they have never been the pioneers of anything, they havent ever broken a single rule musically. Their earlier albums are just about passable to me, their was a kind of jokeyfun light heartedness to them but then they got more "serious" and "deep". That cant really be seen as a valid transition though, it was the same dirge just moodier

beanheadmcginty

Chuck Berry never strayed very far from a winning formula.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: beanheadmcginty on July 26, 2019, 09:46:57 PM
Chuck Berry never strayed very far from a winning formula.

I love the fact that Chuck Berry started so many songs with the same riff. It was like a fanfare, a calling card: you are about to listen to a Chuck Berry song.

non capisco

#54
I love Thee Oh Sees but I concede they reached a point in the last few years where they were putting out albums that sounded exactly the same where every song went "whispery verse YELP! DANGANANGANANG". Then they altered the formula and put out a prog album which was mostly a complete load of rubbish.

Beastie Boys were one of the least samey bands imaginable, for crying out loud.

HAVANAGILA

Quote from: Jockice on July 26, 2019, 06:39:33 PM
And lest we forget the whole Spacemen Three/Spiritualized/Sonic Boom thing. I like a lot of it but it's making a little go a very long way.

Ooft, you're not kidding. I love the first 3 Spiritualized albums (Lazer Guided Melodies top, then Ladies And Gentlemen, then Pure Phase), and the high points of The Perfect Prescription and Playing With Fire may be even better than those... but the 4th Spirirualized album was a huge (Let It) comedown, with the most infuriatingly self-satisfied lyrics ever ("I'm good for nothing / Nothing is good enough for me", "Out of sight is always out of mind / I think out of mind is out of sight", all that shit). As with Mogwai, I've dipped into the later albums occasionally but never found them sufficiently engaging to warrant a second listen. And lets not forget the first volume of The Complete Works, which features FOUR versions of Feel So Sad (not counting the partial reprise in the final track), totalling 33 minutes out of a 2 disc set.

Sonic Boom / Pete Kember I don't really know at all, apart from seeing him live 20 years ago at the Glasgow Barrowlands, supporting... Mogwai!

In all honesty, the best thing to come out of the Spaceman 3 stable since Ladies And Gentlemen is erstwhile bassist Will Carruthers' tremendous autobiography, Playing The Bass With Two Left Hands. An unblinkingly honest account of the highs (arf) and lows of working with Pete and Jason, all the gruelling details of his non-musical career, and of course the moment when he finds himself digging trenches in Knebworth, looking up to see Oasis larking about on (I think) quad bikes, accompanied by Richard Ashcroft and... Jason's wife, Kate Radley. Funny, self-aware and highly recommended.

jobotic

Quote from: beanheadmcginty on July 26, 2019, 09:46:57 PM
Chuck Berry never strayed very far from a winning formula.

Bo Diddley too, and I'm very glad about that.

Hear the album Two Great Guitars to hear them do their samey thing over twenty minute long tracks. It's brilliant.


Jockice

Quote from: OnlyRegisteredSoICanRead on July 26, 2019, 12:54:24 PM
Tom Waits has released the same album about about 10 times by now.

i suspect that's a voice thing too. I haven't heard enough Waits to comment though. I've only ever owned Swordfishrombones but from the other stuff I've heard there doesn't seem to be too much variation. There might be musically for all I know but his vocals overshadow everything.

Jockice

Quote from: HAVANAGILA on July 26, 2019, 10:44:43 PM
Ooft, you're not kidding. I love the first 3 Spiritualized albums (Lazer Guided Melodies top, then Ladies And Gentlemen, then Pure Phase), and the high points of The Perfect Prescription and Playing With Fire may be even better than those... but the 4th Spirirualized album was a huge (Let It) comedown, with the most infuriatingly self-satisfied lyrics ever ("I'm good for nothing / Nothing is good enough for me", "Out of sight is always out of mind / I think out of mind is out of sight", all that shit). As with Mogwai, I've dipped into the later albums occasionally but never found them sufficiently engaging to warrant a second listen. And lets not forget the first volume of The Complete Works, which features FOUR versions of Feel So Sad (not counting the partial reprise in the final track), totalling 33 minutes out of a 2 disc set.

Sonic Boom / Pete Kember I don't really know at all, apart from seeing him live 20 years ago at the Glasgow Barrowlands, supporting... Mogwai!

In all honesty, the best thing to come out of the Spaceman 3 stable since Ladies And Gentlemen is erstwhile bassist Will Carruthers' tremendous autobiography, Playing The Bass With Two Left Hands. An unblinkingly honest account of the highs (arf) and lows of working with Pete and Jason, all the gruelling details of his non-musical career, and of course the moment when he finds himself digging trenches in Knebworth, looking up to see Oasis larking about on (I think) quad bikes, accompanied by Richard Ashcroft and... Jason's wife, Kate Radley. Funny, self-aware and highly recommended.

I prefer Sonic Boom to Spiritualized but that's probably just me. I  didn't know about that book. I'll certainly look it up. Ta.