Sir Mustapha
Group: Musicians
Posts: 2802
Joined: April 2003 |
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Posted: April 02 2005, 12:41 |
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Well, I just can't accept that any artist can take a moderately fine musical idea and release it as a smashing 10-minute epic with guitars piled on top of more guitars, bombastic choirs and pianos everywhere, and very loud drumming and playing and pass it off as a powerful, universal statement. One has to have a very good reason to do that. Many artists can make huge music, but it all has to have a point. If it doesn't, then it becomes overly-pompous and... well, pretentious. It all depends on the artist's intentious and style, and how it's handled. Has anyone here heard King Crimson's "Epitaph"? You should know that it's a really pompous, puffed-up excuse to deliver pseudo-philosophical lyrics and all. Yet, the song is made worthwhile by great singing and great playing, so it's not overbearing. Has anyone heard "Firth Of Fifth", by Genesis? You know, it's ridiculous how Tony Banks could deliver those incredibly puffed-up NONSENSE lyrics with a perfectly straight face. If that's not pomposity, then someone changed its name. Yet, the music is superb, and Peter Gabriel is able to deliver the lyrics and melody with verve. The song isn't rotten, but Banks' pretention is.
In Mike's case, it would be pretty pointless for him to think-up a 60 minute album with dead-serious, grandiose, bombastic themes being performed as loudly as possible. He did that before, and better. The snide humour and self-deprecation is the very point of the album, and what makes it so amazing: it's not every artist that has the guts to write such fantastic melodies and deliver them with that kind of sense of humour. Those looking for pure, unadultered "power" and "emotion" and whatever should be looking elsewhere, in my frank, brutal opinion. If one can't admire the essence of the album, it can't complain about it being "ruined". It's like listening to The Residents' "The Third Rehcn & Roll", and then saying: "I really like the songs they are covering, but the album is ruined by all those noises, bad playing and bad singing ruin the album to me." You know...
Mind you, my opinions aren't that radical, I just felt like delivering them that way. I know it can be an incredible frustration hearing music that's fantastic to you, not being delivered the way you'd like. But with Amarok, the only solution is giving in and learning to enjoy it. Difficult? Surely, but not impossible, IMHO. The case is, if the album wasn't so cruel, snide and wicked with its listeners, then Mike's entire effort would have been a complete failure...
-------------- 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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