Originally Posted by Frownland

Do I listen to anything else that makes you think I'm harboring it as a guilty pleasure? Or is this just another case of being too immersed in something to believe that anyone wouldn't like it?

I do like Townes Van Zandt and Hank Williams. YOU GOT ME.

Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien

There is only one bright spot and that is the growing habit of disgruntled men of dynamiting factories and power-stations; I hope that, encouraged now as ‘patriotism’, may remain a habit! But it won’t do any good, if it is not universal.

Originally Posted by The Batlord

I'll wait till you're older to see what you finally admit to yourself that you do and don't like.

Originally Posted by Frownland

Hmm, this post makes me think you don't actually like the record since you can't seem to adequately defend it beyond "nah you just luv it".

Originally Posted by The Batlord

The one thing that hamstrings me for this album is that I kind of have to be in the right mood for 60s/70s Nashville sound country pop to listen to her properly. On any given day I am still too green to all this to connect with her in the same way I can a thrash or doom metal album on any given day, and unfortunately now is not that day.

But on that day when all is good, Patsy Cline entrances me. I remember a Plug session talking to Chio about this very subject and talking about how a story I'd heard about a childhood illness that altered Patsy's vocal chords to give her the voice she became known for. There's just something about the way she sings that legitimately gives me the heeby jeebies at times, and that story makes me think that there's an uncanny valley aspect to her singing, where a human voice simply isn't meant to sing like that and it ****s with me. In an amazing way.

It's not an obvious thing, cause for the most part she doesn't "sang", she croons in a very polite way that doesn't challenge one's perception of the human voice in the way that Diamanda Galas does, but I can think of no other singer in Patsy's time period or genre who croons in such a powerful and subtlely alien way. She's simply unique in a way that is very easy to overlook.

But if it were just technique that she had to offer, I imagine I wouldn't care nearly as much. Her ultimate ace in the hole is her ability to emote. "Crazy" is her obvious song that everyone on Earth has heard, and it's easy to ignore her performance as it is 60s schmaltz to the Nth degree, but there's an intensity to the song that makes it feel like she's on the verge of an emotional breakdown and barely keeping her emotions in check, even if the subject matter is nothing more than jukebox fare. There's simply a beauty to Patsy Cline's singing style that is easily lost in the decades since her death.

If there's one major flaw to her and this album, it's that she never really had the time that so many other artists did to evolve their style and find songwriters to truly plumb their depths (she died within 6 years of her debut, and 2 years of her big break). If Patsy Cline had ever found songwriters and/or lyricists to truly express her vocal, emotional depths, then I believe she could have put out consistent, cohesive albums to challenge even such as Townes Van Zandt or Willie Nelson. As it is she still put out some of the most addictive country songs of all-time.

Originally Posted by The Batlord

Oh, and if you're bothering with the instrumentation on a Patsy Cline song then you're doing it wrong. There's a reason the album is called Showcase. Everything else is meant to support her vocals.

Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien

There is only one bright spot and that is the growing habit of disgruntled men of dynamiting factories and power-stations; I hope that, encouraged now as ‘patriotism’, may remain a habit! But it won’t do any good, if it is not universal.

Originally Posted by Frownland

another case of being too immersed in something to believe that anyone wouldn't like it

Originally Posted by Frownland

I'm not gonna fault you for digging it, just don't expect me to like something in a genre I don't like.

Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien

There is only one bright spot and that is the growing habit of disgruntled men of dynamiting factories and power-stations; I hope that, encouraged now as ‘patriotism’, may remain a habit! But it won’t do any good, if it is not universal.

Originally Posted by The Batlord

I'm not expecting you to like it, I'm just saying hopefully you'll grow out of your attitude.

Originally Posted by Frownland

My attitude of acknowledging something's appeal while recognizing that it's not appealing to me? Ja I guess you're right, it's a pretty immature approach to music.

Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien

There is only one bright spot and that is the growing habit of disgruntled men of dynamiting factories and power-stations; I hope that, encouraged now as ‘patriotism’, may remain a habit! But it won’t do any good, if it is not universal.

Originally Posted by The Batlord

No, I mean your phony elitism.

Originally Posted by Frownland

When accurately stating your own tastes counts as elitism, you know you're dealing with a butthurt Chula.

Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien

There is only one bright spot and that is the growing habit of disgruntled men of dynamiting factories and power-stations; I hope that, encouraged now as ‘patriotism’, may remain a habit! But it won’t do any good, if it is not universal.

Originally Posted by The Batlord

I think it's way more Chula-esque to maintain a stubborn, self-consciously unchangeable view of music.