Sir Mustapha
Group: Musicians
Posts: 2802
Joined: April 2003 |
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Posted: Mar. 07 2008, 12:45 |
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Quote (Alan D @ Mar. 07 2008, 02:40) | That's kind of the point I'm making, except that the only complaints come from within a 'pop' culture mindset. MO is outside that (or at least, a big part of him is). Here we are with this musical genius who transcends the boundaries, and that has consequences. He's different. He grows like a tree. He has roots. He needs the roots to draw inspiration from, and to grow. All this business about 'repetition' is a misreading of what's going on. It's not repeating. It's revisiting; and that's a very different (and perfectly acceptable, if not essential) artistic process. |
Maybe that's what I would say... if I didn't know about his thirst for fame and recognition that leads him to use the musical motif not as a theme, but as a brand, a common-place, a watermark in pieces that don't even have anything to do with Tubular Bells at all (Quicksilver, Harbinger). Come on, we were all here when they changed the Light and Shade cover to show two tubes, instead of a white ring. What is that other than marketing? He never needed that until Tubular Bells II came out, and in fact, it only became chronic five years later, with Tubular Bells III. If he needs his roots, he has a pretty vast legacy - but apparently, he only has Tubular Bells, which, incidentally, is his best selling record by far. No, I don't think that's a coincidence. He knows the business side of music too well to claim ingenuity.
Quote | Sure Sir M, you have a point, but there's also reason to believe that many people's contempt for Mike's "recycling" of old themes, such as the TB introduction, is enough to make them depreciate his other work too. It's not hard to imagine someone listening to Harbinger and immediately dismissing the whole album as a work of a man who has ran out of ideas. |
And that's exactly what I mean with digging one's own grave. We're talking about a pop mindset? We sure are. Mike is entirely inserted into that context, and out of his own pure will, not because anyone forced him into it. There's nothing wrong or evil with using the pop mindset to your own benefit. There's a band who's willing to make an incredibly lush, refined and high-brow rock album and start it off with nothing but a two note "Yeah yeah yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah" (The Flaming Lips, At War With the Mystics). Sounds awful in theory, excellent in practice. Now, imagine if they kicked it off with a clone of She Don't Use Jelly... Sometimes, it is better to avoid insisting in your mistakes. If he thinks he'd be neglecting his identity, well, that's how life is: you give up something in order to get something else.
-------------- Check out http://ferniecanto.com.br for all my music, including my latest albums: Don't Stay in the City, Making Amends and Builders of Worlds. Also check my Bandcamp page: http://ferniecanto.bandcamp.com
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