Random Music Talk CXI: W Sellin' VW To Me?

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Kieran McConville said:
Not The Girl etc was certainly one that I was thinking of. I can't even remember Afterglow at this point.

The first proper Neil Finn solo album was very solid, very of its time too ('put some loops and shit under it'). I think he started to lose me around the time of One Nil (although in fairness I was very depressed at the time). I respect him and all, but yeah.
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I still quite enjoy what Neil's done over the last fifteen years, and have been quite impressed that he hasn't rested on his laurels by pumping out same-old same-old but has actually tried his hand at a whole bunch of new things. In broad terms I don't think he's done a whole album to rival his best work of the late eighties and nineties, but a song like "Saturday Sun" from the most recent Crowded House album is worthy of standing among the band's finest material.

cobl04 said:
When You Come :love:
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:up:

What a song, and every performance I've ever seen of it in concert is further proof that Neil is one of the best live musicians.
 
I just wish his concerts didn't cost so much. I'd like to have seen him many more times than I have.

His Twitter account is also a fucking blast.
 
Crowded House was always on my list of 'bands that are probably good that I should check out but haven't yet'. I finally started. A couple of months ago, 'Don't Dream It's Over' was used in a movie I was watching and I really liked it, enough to take note of it. I know, I know, "it's 2015 and you're just now hearing DDIO? What rock have you been living under?" What can I say, things slip through the cracks sometimes.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I sat down and gave that whole first album a listen. I thought it was pleasant enough, but I didn't love it. The production was a bit too 80s-ish for my taste. Tombstone and Love You Till The Day I Die were my other favorites, I guess. But nothing jumped out at me like DDIO. That song has been stuck in my head ever since. I'm guessing that for the hard core CH fan, it might be one of those songs that you've heard so many times that you're numb to it and could do without hearing again, but I'm digging it. Even that Mylie/Ariana Grande cover isn't as terrible as you'd think it would be. That's got to say something about the song, right?

Are the rest of CH's albums like the first one, or do they branch out musically?


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Well, Together Alone is basically Crowded House's UF, so yeah they definitely branch out musically. Just listen to the opener "Kare Kare" and you'll get an idea of the evolution that happened.
 
I'm indifferent-to-negative about much of their earlier output. Think I've listened to the debut album all of once ever. Had Temple of Low Men, sold it. Ok, that's not totally fair; the couple of cuts from that one that made the Best Of are definitely up there among their better songs. Into Temptation.

Axver, you mentioned Not The Girl You Think You Are... I think 'Something So Strong' pips it for worst Neil moment ever (I think, I hope, it was a co-write with whatever LA hotshots they had putting the gloss on their debut).

You know the people who ask you if you like Crowded House and then stick on 'Better Be Home Soon'? Yeah.
 
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It's alright, but they've had far better. I dunno, it's just like, the obvious choice. It's like, 'hey, you like Van Morrison, you must like Brown Eyed Girl'.
 
Between Lemon and Private Universe, I feel like 1993 was a great year for leftfield (and long) singles from 'establishment' bands.
 
The chorus of In My Command is incredible. The first time you hear it wash over the otherwise raucous track it's like whoa where did that come from, but really it's just an awesome arrangement. The outro kind of blends both sides of the song and it's perfect.
 
I've always found Private Universe overrated to be honest. It's not quite as serene and special as it should be. Falls a bit flat in my book. Still a nice song, but yeah.

It is an abomination that the only two Crowdies albums I've heard are the two reunion ones though. I have the Recurring Dream best of (which doesn't fucking have Recurring Dream, wtf). Really need to sit down with the albums.
 
I don't really think of Private Universe as serene. There's a lot going on there. As for overrated, as long as it's a little more overrated than Better Be Home Soon, I'll sleep happy.
 
LemonMelon said:
The chorus of In My Command is incredible. The first time you hear it wash over the otherwise raucous track it's like whoa where did that come from, but really it's just an awesome arrangement. The outro kind of blends both sides of the song and it's perfect.
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That, and the backing vocals that suffuse this and nearly every track, take it to some other level. On some tracks, those backing vocals are downright creepy (think of the 'ooohs' in Black and White Boy), but not on this one.
 
I think the eponymous debut is almost as good as Together Alone, so I'll definitely have to fight Kieran there. Yeah "Something So Strong" is a very overplayed single but I don't care much about it either way, and those first four tracks are impeccable. "Don't Dream It's Over" has such a perfect guitar tone, much like "Pride" in that it rarely comes across as pristine live (though sometimes Neil nails it). And then there's "Hole in the River"... fuck me is that an experience live, probably the closest thing Crowded House have to a "Bad".

As for Woodface, on the whole I rate it above Temple of Low Men (which has two perfect songs, "I Feel Possessed" and "When You Come", among a mishmash of variable quality), but it's well below the debut and Together Alone. I've never ever liked "It's Only Natural", and there are some real duds on the second half of the album. On the other hand, "Weather With You" is rightly a classic, "There Goes God" is wonderfully irreverent, "Tall Trees" and "Fame Is" are two of those often-neglected album tracks that I think deserve more attention, and "She Goes On"/"How Will You Go" gets me every time. But "All I Ask" and "Italian Plastic" can just fuck off, seriously. So boring.
 
I will agree at least on Don't Dream It's Over. Fantastic song and fantastic track. That whole eighties production thing isn't a problem (with me) for a lot of artists but it is with them.... however, not so much on that song.
 
I've been getting so many e-mails about it. I would've gone if it weren't so FUCKING HOT this weekend.

Though I suppose it's much cooler in Echo Park.
 
Fans of FKA Twig's LP1 should definitely listen to her new EP. It continues in the same vein, style and quality wise.
 
Yesterday it was at least 102 with a heat index over 108 in North Hollywood. Same deal today. But on Monday it drops all the way down to 94!!
 
Do any of you play Here Comes the Sun on the first warm day? I wait for that moment every year in spring. And always play it the morning of grand final day.
 
martha said:
You guys, is there such a thing as a dvr that you buy at Target, plug into your TV and hook up to your cable, and then record stuff on?

Or do they all require some sort of subscription to some service?

/old


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As far as I know, nothing that records into memory like a DVR that you can buy without some subscription. I have a DVD recorder I got at Best Buy a number(maybe 7?) of years ago that records onto blank DVD's so basically a more modern version of a VCR, but I think thats as close as you'll get. (Assuming they still sell those)
 
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