Random Music CXXVI: The Woy Eet Eez

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
Haven't gone to a concert in like 6 months but I'm getting back into it with a Destroyer/Eleanor Friedberger bill and Wilco's Hollywood Palladium show.

Wanted to see Haru Nemuri at the Echoplex but it's a weeknight and I'm an old man now who needs to think about lining up babysitters if I want to do something fun and spontaneous, which is neither fun nor spontaneous.
 
Last edited:
Same, but for me it's the Supergrass reunion at the Wiltern in April.

Probably the most underrated BritPop band.

Sure hope a new album follows, or maybe I just need to start exploring Gaz Coombes's solo material.
 
I saw that, same conflict.

They had a terrific run. I didn't care for their last album and felt they were right to take an extended break, but I always felt they did a great job of maneuvering against type and finding new ways to pack great songwriting into different variations of their sound.
 
OK, FINE.

cobl04 said:
Countdown to Ecstasy: great album. They're such a great band, but I really only know Aja and a couple of hits. Donald Fagen's voice is angelic, I love it, and it always floats on top of such clever, intricate, humming production. Fav songs on this album are The Boston Rag (love the dark tone of the chorus), Show Biz Kids (that swagger and bite), My Old School (a great example of their vocals and music just combining so well to create a whole better than its parts, the chorus is fucking delightful) and King of the World (I really love that wormy, quiet guitar line).
Click to expand...

I've never heard Fagen's voice as "angelic" since there's a bit of a sly sneer to it, but I do find it very appealing. The Boston Rag has always been a favorite of mine, mainly due to that chorus you mentioned, as well as that lead guitar line and a pretty ripping solo. My Old School is without a doubt on my Steely Dan Rushmore, I love the piano and horns combo (and yet there's still great guitar playing on it), the background singers, and that bitterly nostalgic lyric.

There's really not a bum track on the album. The opener Bodhisattva really tears it up, and reminds me of Grateful Dead at times with the vocal and just the way it shuffles. Pearl of the Quarter is a gorgeous little tune, that keeps the usual Dan irony and cynicism at bay without getting treacly.

I could go on and on, this is my favorite by the band and also in my all-time Top 10 albums. Aja is the more impressive work musically, and Countdown may sound less unique against its classic rock contemporaries, but the sheer variety of styles on it and the catchiness of the tunes just puts it over the top for me.
 
lazarus said:
I've never heard Fagen's voice as "angelic" since there's a bit of a sly sneer to it, but I do find it very appealing. The Boston Rag has always been a favorite of mine, mainly due to that chorus you mentioned, as well as that lead guitar line and a pretty ripping solo. My Old School is without a doubt on my Steely Dan Rushmore, I love the piano and horns combo (and yet there's still great guitar playing on it), the background singers, and that bitterly nostalgic lyric.

There's really not a bum track on the album. The opener Bodhisattva really tears it up, and reminds me of Grateful Dead at times with the vocal and just the way it shuffles. Pearl of the Quarter is a gorgeous little tune, that keeps the usual Dan irony and cynicism at bay without getting treacly.

I could go on and on, this is my favorite by the band and also in my all-time Top 10 albums. Aja is the more impressive work musically, and Countdown may sound less unique against its classic rock contemporaries, but the sheer variety of styles on it and the catchiness of the tunes just puts it over the top for me.
Click to expand...

Yeah I was in a hurry and needed a word, I wouldn't say it's angelic either. What I mean is that I just really, really fucking love his voice. It's just... really satisfying. It has this laconic, wistful, but yes, definitely quite sneery at times, quality to it. It's multifaceted. It often, to my untrained ears, sounds like it's double, or triple-tracked? Or layered with additional harmonies? If not, then his voice is even better than I thought.

What is your Steely Dan Rushmore? Too early for me to have one, it'd be all Aja.
 
My Old School (Countdown to Ecstasy)
Babylon Sisters (Gaucho)
Home at Last (Aja)
Bad Sneakers (Katy Lied)

Really difficult to not include something from The Royal Scam.
 
I can't do a top 4. It's impossible; I'm too emotionally tied to too many SD songs to leave any out. I've been listening to them since I was 10 years old.

Reeling in the Years
Turn That Heartbeat Over Again
The Boston Rag
My Old School
Rikki Don't Lose That Number
Any Major Dude Will Tell You
Bad Sneakers
Dr Wu
Kid Charlemagne
Don't Take Me Alive
Sign in Stranger
Here At the Western World
Black Cow
Aja
Deacon Blues
Peg
FM
Babylon Sisters
Gaucho
Time Out of Mind
Gaslighting Abby
Almost Gothic

[emoji91][emoji91][emoji91][emoji91]
 
You know, I haven't gone back to it in a long time and didn't care much for it when it came out. Probably should revisit it. I generally prefer their solo careers over the reunion albums, but there are some tracks on TAN that I am very fond of.
 
^ I started reading that yesterday but didn't get around to finishing it. Dan Bejar really is something else. I'll have his music in rotation until his concert here, a good excuse to return to albums of his that aren't Kaputt, Rubies and Streethawk.

I also returned to Everything Must Go. What I got out of it was that Pixeleen is a hysterical track. Great idea for a song that keeps getting weirder and more meta as it goes along.
 
Is the show full band or just him? (And as an aside, there are like, at least three albums I rate more highly than Streethawk, all that The Bad Arts is on my Rushmore of his.)
 
It's full band, in support of Have We Met. I've only seen Destroyer briefly at Pitchfork Fest, way back in 2011, so this should be great.

Besides the two other albums I mentioned, I miiiiiight take Poison Season over Streethawk if I'm in that kind of mood. My enjoyment of Poison Season is always there but it's off the charts every now and again.
 
Last edited:
I'm not as familiar with his pre-Kaputt catalogue as I should be - what are some essential tracks?
 
Their full band show I saw last year (or the year before) was excellent. I really loved it.

Also nice that you are getting Eleanor Fried Burger as a double bill. Hopefully that's full band as well (I liked a couple of solo shows I saw, but songs like Roosevelt Island or Stare at the Sun really need to be played in full band).
 
One of the best lineups you'll ever see, horrendous layout, but kinda fits the "we literally booked every artist in the world atm" vibe haha.

iron yuppie said:
I'm not as familiar with his pre-Kaputt catalogue as I should be - what are some essential tracks?
Click to expand...

My picks would be The Bad Arts (Streethawk), Mercy (We Had the Right) and To the Heart of the Sun on the Back of a Vulture, I'll Go (Thief), Shooting Rockets (From the Desk of Night's Ape) and My Favourite Year (Trouble in Dreams).

If you only listen to one of these, I'd suggest Shooting Rockets, which has a pretty Floydian vibe to it.
 
The opening four track run of Destroyer's Rubies is so good that it overshadowed the rest of their work for me for a long time. Then Kaputt came along. But yes, Rubies, Your Blood, European Oils, and Painter in Your Pocket are all essential.
 
They certainly are, but Looters’ Follies at the very least is the equal of those tracks (I’d argue it’s better than Your Blues), and A Dangerous Woman Up to a Point and Watercolours Into the Ocean are as good. The entire album is exceptional, nothing close to a bad song. I’d happily argue that it’s one of the very, very best indie rock albums ever made, maybe even the best.
 
Probably not. I just saw them at Desert Daze a few months ago, and while I'm sure this would be a better venue/show, I'm not likely to double-dip so soon.
 
Ok Stereolab at the Wiltern blah blah blah but what about this:

Built to Spill at Pappy & Harriet's on April 3rd, for $25.

Tickets on sale at 10am today.
 
Last edited:
Also El Mel, Stereolab is playing Pappy's as well, on May 15th. The sound might not be as good as at Wiltern but would be a better experience overall I suspect.
 
That's cool, the Wiltern is a super convenient trip for me so I grabbed pre-sale tickets for that instead. Nabbed really good balcony seats.
 
Guys...why...why do they keep having Alicia Keys host the Grammys? She is absolutely the worst host I've ever seen of anything ever. She's always so high. She just sits behind a piano and sings about what she sees ala Randy Newman. I just...don't get it.
 
bono_212 said:
Guys...why...why do they keep having Alicia Keys host the Grammys? She is absolutely the worst host I've ever seen of anything ever. She's always so high. She just sits behind a piano and sings about what she sees ala Randy Newman. I just...don't get it.
Click to expand...

A cross between Randy Newman and South Park's Towelie.
 
She *does* make me laugh, I'll give her that. But...I'm not sure if I'm meant to laugh...haha.


Usher is not doing Prince much justice. I'm just waiting for Sheila E.

EDIT: Oh, I guess she's just playing drums. And FKA Twigs was only there to dance? Huh?
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

O
Better late than never “they” say…
Replies
1
Views
289
Headache in a Suitcase
Headache in a Suitcase
P
Staring at the Sun - Sad Bastards Mix
Replies
0
Views
119
PookaMacP
P
Headache in a Suitcase
The Little Things That Give You A Mercy Rip Off
2
Replies
31
Views
3K
lazarus
lazarus
U
Hey there! I finally made an account here!
Replies
2
Views
273
U2_family365
U
Achtung_Bebe
IO: It's been a while...
Replies
2
Views
673
mikal
mikal

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom