mirth
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Posts: 931
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Post by mirth on Aug 7, 2012 13:24:29 GMT -5
Also you're comparing band popularity to guitarist popularity. There are bands way bigger than living colour that guitarist isn't popular.
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Post by Infinite Ego on Aug 7, 2012 16:09:30 GMT -5
And I will make one more, personal observation.
VR and LC made me want to take up the guitar again.
SL makes me want to put it back down.
Don't know why. VR/LC seems to connect me with representations that get me pretty excited whereas SL's music is abstract .... kind of like a sound out of nowhere.
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Post by Infinite Ego on Aug 7, 2012 16:17:41 GMT -5
Also you're comparing band popularity to guitarist popularity. There are bands way bigger than living colour that guitarist isn't popular. I'm not sure why popularity is even an issue. I only know that VR does it for me and SL does not, most of the time. I do love a lot of the work with Hellborg where his uber-chops seem to be appropriate. I don't like anybody because they're popular or not. I only care that they connect or do not. Bill Frisell connects, VR, etc. SL, not so much. Increasingly, I wonder about how we ended up with the instrumental guitar or solo guitarist thing anyway. it seems so Reagan era in a way. So me me me. And then it turned into buy buy buy so you can be me me me. it's feeling like a pretty thread-bare genre to me. Face it, no guitar on its own, no matter what, is going to be able to convey the depth and complexity of a human voice singing lyrics. And then the guitar solo just kinda ruins the whole thing anyway. Something like the solo on CoP would be an exception because he's adding a level of frenzy to the song that CG isn't going to add. But 99% of the time, guitarists seem to just weedle on in a way that adds nothing |
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mirth
New Member
Posts: 931
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Post by mirth on Aug 7, 2012 17:06:51 GMT -5
Well I only brought it up since it was brought up. however I hope people don't listen to music just because its popular or not popular, but because it's good.
Well there has been instrumental music for as long as music is around so the thats not completely surprising I think.
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Post by brucestevens on Aug 7, 2012 19:12:08 GMT -5
I can't say I continued to follow LC after the first record, but I remember feeling like it was pretty fresh and new at the time. I saw them tour that record - good show.
Also, while I appreciate the Black Dog esque main riff, I really enjoy the guitar in the chorus - the strange whammy bar riffage.
As for Shawn Lane - never really heard much that made me want to hear more. Very talented, but has more of a Shrapnel-esque 80s vibe (in my opinion). Could well be an opinion of ignorance.
Bruce
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mirth
New Member
Posts: 931
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Post by mirth on Aug 7, 2012 20:55:43 GMT -5
The only Lane stuff I can listen too is the Hellborg stuff, so I'm not sure if you checked any of that out. I don't think the solo albums are particularly that great, though there are a few gems possibly.
He seems like he was a pretty good dude though too, so I think that increases my appreciation for him. Still, I've mostly moved passed that stuff these days. The Personae album (live record) is my favorite of the group, just a good vibe for them I think.
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Post by aliensporebomb on Aug 8, 2012 22:15:04 GMT -5
Some of the Willy's stuff had that 80s vibe since it was an 80s cover band playing in the Memphis area but the Jonas stuff is a lot better IMO, especially with Selvaganesh veering towards an indian sensibility. Not something that had a lot of time to develop since after that short tour of india he was back in the states in the hellborg/lane/jim britt trio when he fell very ill and passed afterwards.
Sigh.
At least Vernon has been around a while and been able to explore lots of different areas.
Has anyone checked out "The Chair in the Door" - it's Living Colour back in "kick-ass rock mode". I don't want to ruin everything but you GOTTA hear the bonus track.
Vernon's tones are all over the place from clean and warm to brutal heavy and everywhere in between. You gotta hear it.
I like the cover art too, reminds me of an 80s videogame and the title of course refers to the fact that after a band breaks up and gets back together nobody wants to talk about "the chair in the door" - the stumbling blocks that made them break up in the first place.
if you don't have it, shoo shoo - go grab it. I get the idea it didn't get a ton of promotion either.
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Post by Infinite Ego on Aug 9, 2012 9:00:41 GMT -5
thanks for the tip. didn't know there was a new album
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Post by Infinite Ego on Aug 9, 2012 9:08:47 GMT -5
Oh, yeah, Chair in the Doorway. I remember why I didn't buy this one: way overly compressed/limited. Every song is just pumping like mad and V's guitars are mixed way dark and down. Kind of a weird sounding record.
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Post by aliensporebomb on Aug 9, 2012 9:49:57 GMT -5
Oh, yeah, Chair in the Doorway. I remember why I didn't buy this one: way overly compressed/limited. Every song is just pumping like mad and V's guitars are mixed way dark and down. Kind of a weird sounding record. Yeah, this is a problem we're seeing more and more in the industry with "established acts". New acts releasing "product" are produced to sound good on ipods and other portable players so they have a consistently loud sound to them. This trend started affecting existing artists. The dilemma is this: artists who've been around a while are afraid of producing their records in a way that new fans or listeners might construe as "old fashioned" - so the loudness war compression madness perpetuates itself. Someone at TGP reported listening to Bonnie Raitt's recent CD and they could not listen to it because it was so fatiguing to listen to due to the compression. When compared to an older recording of hers, it was far quieter. So what we have is a generation of kids with ipods who go "yecch, get rid of that quiet song, something is wrong with that one - it's not as loud as all the others on my ipod" and they have 500 songs that are compressed to hell. That being said, it's sad because it's a cool record and that last song, well, I can't type the title because it would ruin it but I think part of the trend started with Rush's "Vapor Trails", that record they put out after 5 years of inactivity because of their drummers' dual wife/daughter death tragedy. I honestly think they produced it that way because if it was produced like their older material people would think they hadn't gotten with the times. It's a trap, just like how some people think you NEED autotune to have a hit record. So the next ASB will be "compression autoproject" mode (not). |
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Post by brucestevens on Aug 9, 2012 10:33:38 GMT -5
Oh, yeah, Chair in the Doorway. I remember why I didn't buy this one: way overly compressed/limited. Every song is just pumping like mad and V's guitars are mixed way dark and down. Kind of a weird sounding record. Yeah, this is a problem we're seeing more and more in the industry with "established acts". New acts releasing "product" are produced to sound good on ipods and other portable players so they have a consistently loud sound to them. This trend started affecting existing artists. The dilemma is this: artists who've been around a while are afraid of producing their records in a way that new fans or listeners might construe as "old fashioned" - so the loudness war compression madness perpetuates itself. Someone at TGP reported listening to Bonnie Raitt's recent CD and they could not listen to it because it was so fatiguing to listen to due to the compression. When compared to an older recording of hers, it was far quieter. So what we have is a generation of kids with ipods who go "yecch, get rid of that quiet song, something is wrong with that one - it's not as loud as all the others on my ipod" and they have 500 songs that are compressed to hell. That being said, it's sad because it's a cool record and that last song, well, I can't type the title because it would ruin it but I think part of the trend started with Rush's "Vapor Trails", that record they put out after 5 years of inactivity because of their drummers' dual wife/daughter death tragedy. I honestly think they produced it that way because if it was produced like their older material people would think they hadn't gotten with the times. It's a trap, just like how some people think you NEED autotune to have a hit record. So the next ASB will be "compression autoproject" mode (not). This makes me chuckle. I like my iPod for stuff with a large dynamic range. Since I am wearing headphones I can hear the nuance much better. Where I hate quiet stuff is my car - the Prius is not cushy enough for quiet listening. |
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Post by aliensporebomb on Aug 9, 2012 16:24:47 GMT -5
It makes me wonder what bands are doing this because focus groups or the like are telling them they have to.
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