A Moron's Take on Music
It is, this very moment, where I'm at, justabout 9pm on Friday. Since last Sunday at 4pm, I have either been working or in the car or taking care of the child solo or in class damn near every available moment. But, I was moved to articulate something that has been in my brain for a while because of a link from FUQUAD's blog (and wasn't it a damn shame he closed down AND wouldn't allow comments on the same day) that mentioned in the title the band Cake.
Let me first say that Cake supplied, at one time, one of the worst concerts I have ever seen. They were touring after Fashion Nugget, and I saw them at Bumbershoot, and they were studio-band-out-of-water suckage.
But, they, beyond anyone else I have ever heard, have an incredible sense of syntactic pacing, which I credit entirely to their lead singer. He has a cellular level understanding of when to hesitate and when to draw out a syllable.
Best example...
The way you treat me lightly only slightly brings me down a lot.
...becomes...
The way <>
you treat me <> lightly
only <> slightly
brings me <> down
a lot
... which is just fucking perfect.
Is it the best song ever? No. But, what it is, is done damn well.
Which got me thinking about albums, and how the best total albums don't necessarily contain the best songs. There is something akin to good syntactic pacing that good albums do well when heard straight through.
So, I decided to share my picks for favorite albums. Not the best bands, or songs, but the most complete and well-crafted album experiences I know. I'm sure that musically astute folks like the LyamHound will recognize a pedestrian nature in my choices, and I won't even defend them, but I think all have the quality of rightness that Cake has in its delivery of singular lines.
And the nominees are:
Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Johnny Cash - the first American Recordings album
Los Lobos - Colossal Head
Sublime - Sublime
Beastie Boys - Ill Communication
Because in each case, the tempo, the correlate to syntactic pacing, is pitch perfect.
And PE gets my nod for best album ever. Ever. In the same way Charlie Chaplin's is the only good autobiography. Ever.
But I'd love to hear the differing opinions.
Let me first say that Cake supplied, at one time, one of the worst concerts I have ever seen. They were touring after Fashion Nugget, and I saw them at Bumbershoot, and they were studio-band-out-of-water suckage.
But, they, beyond anyone else I have ever heard, have an incredible sense of syntactic pacing, which I credit entirely to their lead singer. He has a cellular level understanding of when to hesitate and when to draw out a syllable.
Best example...
The way you treat me lightly only slightly brings me down a lot.
...becomes...
The way <>
you treat me <> lightly
only <> slightly
brings me <> down
a lot
... which is just fucking perfect.
Is it the best song ever? No. But, what it is, is done damn well.
Which got me thinking about albums, and how the best total albums don't necessarily contain the best songs. There is something akin to good syntactic pacing that good albums do well when heard straight through.
So, I decided to share my picks for favorite albums. Not the best bands, or songs, but the most complete and well-crafted album experiences I know. I'm sure that musically astute folks like the LyamHound will recognize a pedestrian nature in my choices, and I won't even defend them, but I think all have the quality of rightness that Cake has in its delivery of singular lines.
And the nominees are:
Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Johnny Cash - the first American Recordings album
Los Lobos - Colossal Head
Sublime - Sublime
Beastie Boys - Ill Communication
Because in each case, the tempo, the correlate to syntactic pacing, is pitch perfect.
And PE gets my nod for best album ever. Ever. In the same way Charlie Chaplin's is the only good autobiography. Ever.
But I'd love to hear the differing opinions.
posted by JJisafool at 7:43 PM
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