I close my eyes until I see
Continuing my trip up #album-of-the-day...
I seem to recall I was concerned about this because it features the word "Hell" and I seem to recall my concern was well-founded. And my channel comment seems to at least partially confirm this
I didn't hate this but it's not really my sort of thing.
It's a cool album cover though - I'll give it that. The channel gave it four thumbs up, one clap and a long speech from the nominator about how lucky they were to be picked! Wikipedia has five random sentences on the album including "In 2005, readers of Kerrang! magazine voted The Neon Handshake the 58th best British rock album ever". There's no mention of commercial performance, which is a bit odd because it got to #16, which was a bit more of a big deal back then than it would be now.
"Customers also listened to" Idlewild, Funeral For A Friend and A - that's a bit of a silly name, isn't it? This is done well enough, but it's just not for me, I'm afraid.
21.10.12 : Before These Crowded Streets - Dave Matthews Band (1998)
I remember being uncertain as to the reason for the popularity of Dave Matthews and his band before I listened to this and I also remember being no clearer as to the reason having listened to it.
Dave Matthews is "fine" I guess, but no more than that for me. Mystifyingly popular in the US though.
The channel gave it one thumbs up and a lot of praise for the musicianship, if not the songs. Wikipedia doesn't have an awful lot on the album, but does give you an idea as to how insanely popular he is/was over there - "It debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 charts after selling 421,000 units in its first week of release knocking the Titanic soundtrack from the top spot after a run of 16 consecutive weeks at #1". Seriously?!? It sold like 4 million copies over there! Over here, only two of his albums (out of nine studio and seventeen(!) live) have charted at all, spending a combined total of three weeks on the charts, peaking at #59. It just goes to show that we don't follow everything that they do over there, I guess.
"Customers also listened to" other Dave Matthews Band albums, it appears - oh well, I guess they know what they like. I can believe it's well done without really hearing it myself - it just seems all a bit bland to me really.
21.10.13 : Visions - Grimes (2012)
Another one I know and like - it's always the female vocalists for me, isn't it?
Yeah - love that album. "Be A Body" is the top track for me, but I see Pitchfork went mad over "Oblivion" declaring it the 2nd best track of the decade. I saw her live about this time in Rock City - it's fair to say I didn't exactly fit in with the rest of the audience...
The channel gave it seven thumbs up, one bellissimo-frankenstein (obviously!) and one "nope, not for me". Wikipedia has more on the album than I was expecting (189 milliPeppers) but she's an interesting character and no mistake (and hasn't exactly slowed down in doing "interesting" things in the years since this album). If you think the album sounds a bit tortured at times, then this might provide some explanation - "she recorded the album at a "psychotic pace", not sleeping or eating for nine days while using amphetamines to meet the deadline". Don't try this at home, kids. It was well received critically, making several "best of 2012" lists and did well enough commercially for a pretty low-key release. Amusingly, the personnel section of the entry includes a credit for "alien head design" - so thanks for that and take a bow, Mr Mark Khair.
"Customers also listened to" Crystal Castles, The Knife and Ladytron - all fine examples of female-lead weirdness for me. And Grimes is up their with the best of them - and this is up there with the best of Grimes.
She was always going to win, but given the competition she barely had to get out of bed. Well done c (as she likes me to call her these days).
21.10.06 - Three albums featuring women to some degree
21.10.14 - Some nice atmospheric sounds
Comments
Post a Comment