Korgscrew
Group: Super Admins
Posts: 3511
Joined: Dec. 1999 |
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Posted: May 08 2005, 21:07 |
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| Quote (Sir Mustapha @ May 08 2005, 22:40) | | ...some of you do like to make things sound bigger than they actually are, don't you? |
Only as much as you do 
I personally never thought a lot of the spoken parts in Sunlight Shining Through Cloud. Mike's picked the words of a male captain and given them to a woman. Perhaps that's an attempt at turning it on its head somehow, but I really can't work out quite what it's meant to mean. I also find that voice too similar to the singing voice, which is presumably intended as that of the slaves. I'd have wanted to make a much clearer distinction, were it my choice, and would have preferred to give John Newton's words to a more fitting voice.
I actually find the whole thing a bit odd, the words seem so strongly tied to the melody that they feel a bit odd when spoken - it's a bit like one of those William Shatner 'songs'  . I think it would work better if it was spoken in a slightly more natural and 'dramatic' way. The way of speaking is actually quite a lot like that on To Be Free - Mike's style, I suppose, but not a style that does much for me, I'm afraid.
Had it been me, I think I'd have picked words which weren't lyrics to a well known song. I rather wonder how long Mike spent looking for those...from what I can make out, they were added rather late in the making of the album.
I'm not too sure about the lyrics to The Doge's Palace either - what's the importance of those four doges whose names are sung? The sleeve notes make it sound like it was a rather random affair, like Mike just chose by putting a list of names on the wall and throwing darts at it while blindfolded, but maybe there was more to it than that! I do really feel that if lyrics are going to be there for their significance, they should truly be significant.
The spoken parts on Liberation don't do much for me either - I don't get the feeling thatthe voice we hear is that of someone who's virtually imprisoned in a small flat and really longs to be outside amongst the things she's describing. She sounds, to me, more like she is already out in the open air - which we know wouldn't have been the case.
Also, really, if it's about liberation...well, Anne Frank was never liberated. She really belongs in the war period of Broad Sunlit Uplands, although she is talking about hope beyond her suffering...
I think again, I'd personally have approached it differently, and had Anne Frank's diary read over gentle music beds during Broad Sunlit Uplands (perhaps alongside the clip of Churchill...and how about Hitler?), framed by the sounds of approaching destruction (distant bombs, gunfire, burning?) and the BSU theme, finishing with some kind of sonic climax and a segue into Liberation, which could then include sound bytes of first hand accounts from people who actually experienced liberation at the end of World War II...and perhaps as the piece continues, they could be mixed with more modern interpretations of liberation, fitting with Mike's aims of it being a piece about the coming of the modern age (which it doesn't come across as to me - it's mostly Anne Frank, until the modern age comes in right at the end in the form of a few radio noises).
In the end, it doesn't feel terribly well thought through to me. It seems more like the seeds of something to be built on. I also feel it's a bit of a shame how the orchestral recordings were handled - they seem rather heavily compressed, and lacking life as a result. Compare them to Mont St Michel and you may hear what I mean - that track is far more open and lively sounding (the acoustic guitar too - the classical guitar on Lake Constance has the same rather compressed sound that the acoustic guitars on Tubular Bells 2003 have...again, not my kind of thing, I'm afraid), I'd rather hear the recordings 'breathe' more.
Anyway, enough of my back seat driver's suggestions. I'll just slope off back to doing my own stuff where I make the decisions instead!
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