Originally Posted by Trollheart

Title: The Woods
Artist: Sleater-Kinney
Genre: Alt-Rock
Artist Reaction: I’ve heard them before. I don’t think I liked them but I don’t think I hated them.
Genre Reaction: Alt-Rock covers such a wide selection. Can be really good, can be really bad. What is “alt” anyway?
Familiarity: Heard one album, possibly for the original of this thread
Suggested by: MarieMarie
A Little Background:Sleater-Kinney are a two-man, or I should say woman, band who have been around since 1994. Seems they went through a pretty major change this year when longtime drummer Janet Weiss left. Perhaps they were a trio before that? I guess Marie can fill everyone in if they need to be told. Sleater-Kinney have been referred to as “the greatest rock band of the last two decades.” I don’t know about that. What I do know is that in the Wiki picture, one of the girls looks spookily like someone I used to work with. This is bad, because she was a right bitch. But anyway...

Expectations: I doubt I’ll hate it, so probably a strong Like or above?
Overview: Their seventh album, this is one on which Weiss was still with the band, and so it’s a three-piece. Pitchfork, Rolling Stone and Village Voice all creamed their pants over it. Make of that what you will. Let’s see what I think.

The Fox: Certainly a riotous opening, very powerful and chaotic, find the vocal kind of Hazel O’Connorish, punkish overtones certainly and the guitars are loud and in your face. Definitely not my thing, at least not on this track. The tremelo in the voice of the singer annoys me, and I have to be honest, I don’t think she sings well, but then, this genre (riot grrrl?) ain’t never been for me. There’s a certain catchiness in the guitar riff, but that’s about it.
Wilderness: A somewhat more restrained guitar, jangly with some nice riffs, still hate the singing. Not my type of vocalist at all, and let’s be honest, I’ve come to appreciate black metal vocalists, so nobody can say I only like one type of singing. I was never a fan of Lene Lovich, Siouxsie or even Toyah, so it’s probably no surprise I don’t like this. Manages to emulate Ann Wilson on odd occasions, but generally not someone I would enjoy listening to. I fear for my sanity when I look at the track listing and see an eleven-minute composition near the end!
What’s Mine is Yours: Choppy guitar, again quite Hazel O’Connor, this time bringing in perhaps elements of The Clash, the mixture of which really doesn’t work for me. Nor does the snarling guitar here. In fact, nothing in this track works for me. Next! If we must. And I fear we must.
Jumpers: This sounds a lot better. Vocal is much clearer and less angry, the guitars busy but not going for the throat (at least not yet). Yeah this is pretty decent.
Modern Girl: And this sounds like it might be continuing this sort of gentler approach, with a jangly, upbeat guitar and a nice enough vocal. Catchy, certainly; sounds like harmonica coming in there, which is always welcome. Heavy percussion now doesn’t ruin but in fact improves it in tandem with the harmonica. Much better.
Entertain: Might be going a little mad again, back to the frenzied attack of the first three tracks. Yeah, the vocal is back to that punkish style, drums are harder and more in your face, though to be fair, though it’s tougher than the last two it’s not as caustic as the openers. I could like this, or at least listen to it.
Rollercoaster: In general, this album seems to have started badly - really badly - but then improved in leaps and bounds, then tailed off slightly. This track continues the latter trend. It’s not bad, a real sharp rocker with a sixties garage punk feeling (no I don’t know what I’m talking about either) but it’s not as good as “Jumpers” or “Modern Girl”, or even “Entertain”. Still, I don’t hate it.
Steep Air: Things actually slowing down? Can it be? Very claustrophobic air to this one, sounds like piano there but none is credited so maybe not. Vocal is very low and almost indistinct, guitars hard and sharp, growling and snapping. No that must be piano. A very decent song.
Let’s Call it Love: This is that eleven-minuter I feared. Although I don’t know the band, they don’t seem the obvious type to write epics - short, sharp stabs in the face seem to me to be more their style than long, prolonged kickings while you lie writhing on the ground - but here we are. Will it be an endurance or a revelation? Well it starts off tough enough, and I find it hard to understand how they’re going to stretch this out for eleven minutes, but let’s see. Yeah, it’s exploded into a real punk/riot grrl rockfest now, not good news for me. Now it’s slowing down on a kind of almost metal beat, marching drums, thumping guitar but you know, it’s not as bad as it could have been. Not quite sure why it needs to be this long though.
Night Light: Great closer. Powerful but not too angry vocal, excellent guitar, catchy hook.


Conclusion: I felt sure, when this started, that it would be an easy Hate. I don’t like hating albums, especially those suggested by other people, but some things just don’t sit well with me. As this went on, however, I warmed to it more, and though I couldn’t honestly say I’d ever listen to another Sleater-Kinney record, it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been.

So, Love or Hate? I guess I can say I Like it a little

Originally Posted by Trollheart

You sound like Buffy after they dragged her back from Heaven.

Originally Posted by WWWP

I want to open a school for MB's lost boys and teach them basic coping skills and build up their self esteem and strengthen their emotional intelligence and teach them about vegetables and institutionalized racism and sexism and then they'll all build a bronze statue of me in my honor and my bronzed titties will forever be groped by the grubby paws of you ****ing whiny pathetic white boys.

Originally Posted by The Batlord

On this one your voice is kind of weird but really intense and awesome

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 YorkeDaddy

Big Thief - U.F.O.F.

Originally Posted by The Batlord

Can just one of the returning members not be trash?

Originally Posted by MarieMarie

Cool, you hated it less than I expected. I guess you won't be surprised when I tell you the singing puts many people off, but I love it. And indeed, they started out as a punk band, then expanded their horizons to the point of incorporating hard rock influences on this album.

Originally Posted by YorkeDaddy

I mean really is there a single human being that’s spent more than 15 minutes on MusicBanter in their life that is not a loser?

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Yo! Welcome back Yorke!
You got any new music, man?

Originally Posted by The Batlord

On this one your voice is kind of weird but really intense and awesome

Originally Posted by The Batlord

TH, Chula, Tristan, jwb, you. The loser quotient is high even with Tristan but he's more of a neutral than a positive.

Originally Posted by Neward Thelman

"SMOKE CRACK MUDA****KKA"

I'll check that dictionary, but in the meantime I'm impressed - as is everyone else in the world - by your eloquence, obvious accomplishments and success, and the evidence of your blazingly high intelligence.

Originally Posted by Frownland

He just doesn't have a mind so closed that it rivals Blockbuster.

Originally Posted by elphenor

I own the mail

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Ok, here we go. For comparison here are the two previous reviews I made of this album. This will be the last.

https://www.musicbanter.com/members-...ml#post1333904

https://www.musicbanter.com/members-...ml#post1773637



Title: Trout Mask Replica
Artist: Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band
Genre: Experimental Rock/Art Rock/Avant-Garde/Blues/Free Jazz
Artist Reaction: Ah crap! I really don’t like Beefheart!
Genre Reaction: Anything with “experimental” or “avant-garde” in it is bad enough for me. Add in “jazz” and then prefix that with “free” and you have a recipe for disaster!
Familiarity: I’ve listened to this album twice, and heard one or two more of the Captain’s releases
Suggested by: Who else but Frownland? Actually, it was Neapolitan. No Christmas card for you, son!
A Little Background: Captain Beefheart is credited with revolutionising music as an art form, particularly prominent in the areas of jazz, avant-garde music, experimental rock and even progressive rock. Real name Don Van Vliet, all indications are that he was a mercurial character, perhaps sometimes as genius is allowed to be. He was a big influence on one of my heroes, Tom Waits, but that doesn’t mean I have to like him.
Expectations: I’ve heard this album twice already. The first time I hated it, the second I hated it less. This third time, I doubt I’ll love it but maybe it’ll click slightly better with me. Frownland believes you need to listen to this about forty times before you’ll “get it”. Sorry man, ain’t gonna happen!
Overview: A double album with some very weird titles, and some even weirder tracks themselves, it runs the gamut of everything from straight-ahead blues and jazz to freak-out fests, spoken word pieces and some things that just aren’t categorisable. Nearly every musician cites the album and its influence on them. That still doesn’t mean I have to like it.

God-damn it but that’s annoying! I forgot that of all the Beefheart albums, it’s the only one NOT on Spotify! So now I have to listen to a YouTube of it, and hope I can track where one song changes to the next. Well, I’ll do my best I guess!

Frownland: Always felt this was very disjointed, guitars seem to be working independently of each other. Probably wrong of course. First time I heard this I moaned that he was copying Waits. Oh, foolish me! To be fair, it’s not the worst but it’s a real jolt for a first track. Not exactly easing you into it then!
The Dust Blows Forward ‘n the Dust Blows Back: Seems to be sung acapella, a kind of folk song idea to it. Without the music, chaotic as it seems to me, this isn’t half bad at all.
Dachau Blues: Music’s back, but again this is not too bad. The vocal is relatively restrained for the Captain, and I guess in ways I just always think of him as Waits singing. Could do without the mad horns though. Can always do without mad horns. I really hate (what I’ve heard of) free jazz.
Ella Guru: Music sounds a little more cohesive to me here. Singing is ok. Again with the mad horns!
Hair Pie Bake 1: Now this I really hated first time I heard it, and the second time, but damn me if the third time isn’t the charm. It isn’t. I still hate it. A lot of silly sounds made on saxophones, flutes, harmonicas or who the hell knows what? Free jazz my ass. Too damn long for what it is. Guitar comes in later and makes it less bad, but I still hate it. Oh, and some talking at the end. Wonderful.
Moonlight on Vermont: At least this is catchy with the Captain in full flight. Quite rocky for what it is, can hear where Waits would get the likes of “Gun Street Girl” and “Sixteen Shells from a Thirty-Ought Six” from.
Pachuco Cadaver: spoken introduction then the guitar takes it in a kind of boogie blues run, again pretty catchy really. One of the guitars in the background seems to be keeping up a sort of heavy metal/hard rock riff that sort of reminds me of… Rush maybe? And there are the mad horns. Sigh.
Bill’s Corpse: Pretty off-the-wall (you don’t say!) with a choppy guitar line and a sort of sarcastic vocal from the Captain.
Sweet Sweet Bulbs: Kind of slid on into this track without me noticing. Same kind of thing I guess. This is why I hate listening on YouTube, especially to something like this where tracks tend to segue together sometimes.
Neon Meate Dream of a Octafish: Totally weird title, but what else is new? The Captain seems to talk the lyric rather than sing it - another thing Waits would rip off from him - and it sounds like there’s someone going mad on an organ in the music somewhere. The lyric is almost declaimed, as if he’s reading it off a cue card. Intentional, no doubt. Very weird. With an extra slice of weird on the side, and weird for dessert.
China Pig: Sounds like a blues run here, sort of acoustic like Delta Blues maybe? Decent vocal, not too harsh. Not bad, this.
My Human Gets Me Blues: This is more uptempo, with the vocal a little harsher.
Dali’s Car: A decent instrumental that echoes later “Dave the Butcher”. Harsh, metallic guitar kind of fighting with another, more strummed guitar. Instrumental, by the way. And short. Think some band ended up taking this as their name.
Hair Pie 2: And another instrumental. Any better than “Hair Pie 1”? Not really. It’s all right I guess, nothing terrible.
Pena: This is just talking, so far as I can see. Mostly the same words said over and over. Oh now there’s some jangly guitar coming in. Is that a female voice? Very annoying, with a capital A.
Well: Another acapella folk song. Sort of gospel overtones. This isn’t bad.
When Big Joan Sets Up: More free jazz horns. Man, I hate free jazz horns.
Fallin’ Ditch: Has another spoken intro, then it’s a growled, scratchy vocal and a - **** it, I don’t know what. I just know I don’t like it.
Sugar’n’Spikes: This one has a decent rhythm about it, like the guitar.
Ant Man Bee: This one is okay, bouncy and jumpy. Not mad about it but I don’t hate it. Much.
Orange Claw Hammer: Hey, at least they’re all short from here to the end! Another acapella folk-style tune. Not bad to be fair.
Wild Life: Crazy guitars in this. Why do I keep saying these things? Cos it’s hard to describe this music really and I want to prove I am actually listening to the damn thing. I am. Honest! No me gusta. Ay yi yi! Los hornes del diablo! Madre de dios! Etc.
She’s Too Much for My Mirror: More talking. Sigh. This gets real old real quick. Song’s pretty decent though.
Hobo Chang Ba: Say what? It’s all right I guess, but that’s about all I’ve been able to say about any track here. Nothing has resonated with me and I guess I’m trying to be polite and as positive as I can be. Whether I’m succeeding is another thing.
The Blimp (mousetrapreplica): mechanised voice on this always annoyed me. It’s like listening to Mister Magoo or something. Shut the hell up, I know it’s the goddamn blimp! You’ve said it enough times. **** off, and take your damn horns with ya!
Steal Softly thru Snow: I seem to remember the album ended well. Am I wrong? Probably. I had the idea that this was some sort of slower song. It ain’t. I don’t know where I got that idea. It’s not too bad though and I kind of like the jazzy guitar in it.
Old Fart at Play: Another spoken vocal line, decent jangly guitar. Meh.
Veteran’s Day Poppy: Good bluesy-ish guitar then it’s more kind of sixties jangle pop or some damn thing.

Conclusion: Third time lucky? Not quite. It’s probably a slightly better result than the last time, but while I can recognise the accepted importance of this album and its place in music history, its influence and all that, it’s never going to be for me. The only time I’m ever going to be listening to this is for scientific reasons, ie research or requested review. I’m never going to listen to it for pleasure, cos it don’t give me none. That’s just me, of course. Many of you love it, and fair play to you, but it ain’t in my wheelhouse, and never will be. If we meet on the street I may tip my hat and grunt politely as we pass each other, but we ain’t never gonna be friends.

So, Love or Hate? With all the magenta I suppose it has to be a Like a Little, but I can’t imagine there’s enough there for me to ever want to listen to this again.

Originally Posted by mord

Actually, I like you a lot, Nea. That's why I treat you like ****. It's the MB way.

Originally Posted by Neapolitan

Wow that review was fast and bulbous. You did a half dozen reviews since then before I figure out what to say in response. My album didn't receive high praise, but I like to think that I turned you away from abject hatred of it to Like a Little. And I am plum delighted my album pick received that special and beautiful color. I like you to think of this album as a special and magical gift of music from Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band to you. Maybe someday you'll understand all I did was pass that magic from my hands to yours.

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

Gay.

Originally Posted by elphenor

Hair Pie Bake rules just have to say it's super

Originally Posted by mord

Actually, I like you a lot, Nea. That's why I treat you like ****. It's the MB way.

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.