Re-assessed!

Glyph

Glyph is worse than some and better than others. He believes that life is just one damned thing after another, that only pop music can save us now, and that mercy is the mark of a great man (but he's just all right). Nothing he writes here should be taken as an indication that he knows anything about anything.

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26 Responses

  1. crash says:

    I think some records are only really appreciated by people over a certain age, 25 or 30. Sort of like single malts.

    When I was 20 I was a big Stones fan, I loved Beggar’s Banquet and Sticky Fingers and Let it Bleed. I owned Exile but couldn’t really get into it. It seemed muddled, weary, ragged. When you’re 20, it can be tough to see that those things are actually virtues. Somewhere around 25 I saw the light. For the last 20 years now, Exile is the one I play the most, by far.Report

    • Glyph in reply to crash says:

      Maybe I should revisit Exile now that I’m older. When I was younger, it just seemed way too same-y, when compared to other the albums you name (I still play Sticky Fingers quite a lot. If I were a rich man I’d get that super-deluxe reissue they put out of it not too long ago, but alas I will have to content myself with Spotify and my old LP.)Report

  2. Glyph says:

    On another note (see what I did there?):

    This struck me a pretty good list. Or maybe from an internet POV it’s an awful one, since it’s not an easy one to nitpick with, since it mostly avoids the pitfall of focusing unduly on one genre (though perhaps metal and hard rock are a bit underrepresented) and at 200 entries, hits a pretty wide swath.

    This list is a lot less completist, but still fun.

    This one’s for Chris.

    This one is NOT for Chris: The Quietus looks back at The Cure’s The Head On The Door thirty years later; the TL; DR is that it’s as perfect a pop album as any released in the 1980’s.Report

  3. rexknobus says:

    Bought “Sergeant Pepper” when if first came out — probably mostly because everyone else was buying it (I was more Stones/Kinks/Moby Grape). Listened to it. Didn’t think much of it. Got a kick out of the album art.

    It must have been twenty years later (ironically enough) that someone played “A Day In the Life” and I went nuts: “Wow! What is that? How did I miss that?”

    Embarrassing moments followed. I totally missed it the first time around — and can’t imagine how I did.Report

    • Glyph in reply to rexknobus says:

      My Beatles epiphany is still in my future. 😉Report

    • CJColucci in reply to rexknobus says:

      Moby Grape? That brings back memories.
      So does Sgt. Pepper. I remember that I was parking my car near the White Plains federal courthouse when the DJ announced that Sgt. Pepper had been released 25 years ago that day. I did some quick mental math and realized that 25 years before Sgt. Pepper was, say, Benny Goodman or Glenn Miller, both of which I had happened to have listened to more recently than the Beatles. That was the day I realized that I would never be cool again — if I ever was.Report

  4. Slade the Leveller says:

    @glyph At your suggestion I revisited Neon Neon’s Stainless Style. Good advice, sir.Report

  5. Maureen says:

    Tom Waits. I was so put off by his voice the first time I heard him that I didn’t really hear his music. Listened again as an adult and I feel him, now.Report

    • Glyph in reply to Maureen says:

      Man, I had a roommate that would not stop listening to Tom Waits (and of course, wanted to BE Tom Waits…hat and all).

      It kind of put me off Tom Waits for a long while. Did you like that album of Waits covers ScarJo did? I actually thought it was decent, but I guess I’m in the minority.Report

      • dhex in reply to Glyph says:

        i can’t listen to tom waits. he sounds like he’s making fun of black singers. i know this is my cross to bear but i’m ok with that.

        i’ve given ii a re-listen at glyph’s insistence. some of it i like quite a bit, some of it is uh very german guys in tracksuits (aka modselektor) but most of it is quite solid.

        the opening track of the first moderat album is perpetually banging, however.

        eta: apperat is hit or miss but the devil’s walk is largely perfect and very sad. goodbye is excellent.Report

        • Glyph in reply to dhex says:

          I was wondering if you liked these guys or not. “Seamonkey” almost sounds to me like old Autechre crossed with (appropriately) Scuba’s Triangulation.Report

          • dhex in reply to Glyph says:

            i would agree with that. where they lose me are on tracks like sick with it or that horrible horrible busdriver track. jesus that guy sucks. i may not like any of the spaceape kode9/burial stuff, but i wouldn’t stay he was awful at what he did, just that it was above my ability to understand…Report

            • dhex in reply to dhex says:

              actually, i’ll double down. anytime i’m listening to anything not explicitly rap, and especially anything from a european producer, i do find myself going “ok i like this, i hope there’s no rapping”.

              because it is never, ever good. never.Report

              • Glyph in reply to dhex says:

                See also: DJ Shadow. On his own, instrumental? Awesome. Backing a rapper? Not so great (why has he never collaborated with someone actually good in that arena?)

                “Sick with It” is OK, though. And I really, really like “Slow Match”, that guttural monotone voice is a really neat contrast with the ghostly, billowing chords behind it.

                (Side note to all electronic/hip-hop track namers: The appropriate tracknaming nomenclature should be “Song Name, Featuring Guest Star” by “Primary Artist”, and NOT “Song Name” by “Primary Artist, Featuring Guest Star”, which screws up my ability to easily locate your track on my iPod. Also, don’t label your album a “compilation” just because it has a lot of guest stars for the same reason. Please and thank you.)Report

              • dhex in reply to Glyph says:

                strong pronouncement: dj shadow produced one timeless, legendary album and then a whole bunch of increasingly less timeless, legendary stuff.

                slow match is pretty good because the mood matches the vocals.Report