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01-01-2018, 03:13 PM | #14 (permalink) | |
Born to be mild
Join Date: Oct 2008
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Posts: 26,992
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Quote:
What I'm going to do is go through my Albums of 2017 thread, check to see how I reacted to each, and colour-code (shut up Batty) them accordingly. I'll update the OP when I have a mo.
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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 |
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01-01-2018, 03:39 PM | #16 (permalink) |
Music Addict
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 5,184
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Do you use RYM, Troll? You said you were gonna go back through your 2017 thread and figure out what you rated stuff? I feel like it's so much easier to track stuff via RYM. Like, that sounds so annoying to go back and do that I'm going to take back my request right now. I'm tired just thinking about YOU doing it, jeez.
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01-01-2018, 03:41 PM | #17 (permalink) | |
Born to be mild
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: 404 Not Found
Posts: 26,992
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Quote:
Don't worry about it, it's not that hard. All I have to do is check the index, hit the album and check the rating I gave it. I was going to do it anyway; it just might take a little time. Some I know I loved or hated, but as it's three months of albums I've forgotten some.
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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 |
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01-01-2018, 04:14 PM | #18 (permalink) |
Born to be mild
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: 404 Not Found
Posts: 26,992
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First up, as Exo was fastest off the blocks (could have been Ki, but as usual he'd rather complain and find fault than join in) we have this:
A Tribe Called Quest – The Low End Theory Oh holy ****ing **** so far I absolutely love this! It is just completely infectious; the beats (huh? Am I doing that right? All advice gratefully accepted) are spot-on and the rapping is kind of calm, not in your face as some rappers tend to be. Effortless. You don't get the feeling this guy is trying to prove something, though maybe he is, I don't know. I decided that if I was going to truly try to “get” hip-hop I would have to start reading and listening to the lyrics, which would of course be page one for you guys, but for a poor white Irish guy, much of this means nothing and makes no sense. Still, even if I don't get all/any of the references and end up feeling as confused as if I were reading War and Peace in the original Russian, I can certainly enjoy the (ahem) flow? And the beats, and the overall atmosphere of the thing, which I'm certainly having a good time with. Perhaps meanings of lyrics will come later, perhaps not. Perhaps it doesn't matter. That's though where I may have a problem appreciating this music properly, as the references just go over my head, but at least I can get the idea behind “Butter”, which is, obviously, everyone wants to sleep with you when you're rich and famous, not so much when you're nobody, and they seem to be saying that girls do themselves up trying to be someone they aren't in order to sleep with a star. I guess. Anyway, apparently A Tribe Called Quest were the first, or one of the first, hip-hop groups to fuse this genre with jazz, and I can see how well it works here, even I who don't like jazz: it certainly adds an indefinable something to the music. “Show Business” speeds things up nicely, some great group vocals too. Okay, I did hear Q-Tip, is it, rap “It's the rap industry and it ain't that cool.” Take that, society! Hard to imagine anyone not enjoying this; if a dyed-in-the-wool rap-hater (or, ex-rap-hater I suppose) like me can get down with it, then surely there's hope for us all? I guess the real attraction about this album – what the hell do I know, but it's what I get from it – is that it seems to be, mostly, two friends reminsicing about old times, current times and just basically having a good time, while throwing out some socio-political commentary at the same time, and paying their dues to jazz music. As I say, I don't know what the hell I'm talking about; I'm thrashing about here like a guy who can't swim (as I can't) who gets suddenly kicked into the pool and has to try to make it out. Hopefully I'll learn to swim. That's enough swimming metaphors. This is going swimmingly. Sorry: one more. I'm finished now. Back to the album. “Jazz (We've Got)” is so smooth it almost slides off the disc and into the cat's waiting mouth, while the telephone on “Skypager” should be annoying but somehow isn't, and “What?” is stripped-down to the max, almost nothing there but the beat and I think maybe one sample? Really gives Q-Tip a chance to shine on his own without his partner Phife Dawg, before “Scenario” brings everything back to full power with a punchy, upbeat, bouncy closer. Dude! Rating:
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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 |
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