I sent an email to my friend cmealha yesterday after my third visit with the new Ian Hunter record.
"After my third pass, I think we are all being a little too critical. I’m including myself in that statement. There are some really great moments. Not just four or five, but at least 3/4 of it. I mean, what the hell do we want?? I really like this record."
His reply:
"I can’t believe you just emailed me with that. I’m finishing up my first full listen and I’m thinking the same thing. I love everything except Defiance. The arrangements are great. The playing is great. They’re all such great songs. (except Defiance) My faves are “Don’t Tread On Me” and “Guernica” but as I’m saying that I want to include all the other tunes as well. I was basing my comments on the first 3 songs that were released. After your post my expectations were low. So it worked. I love it. (Except for Defiance!)"
Yeah, I don't love the opening title track either. It's a weak table setter, and borderline annoying. But the rest of this record is terrific.
I don't know about you but, I can think of hundreds of now classic records that didn't do it for me on first pass. I mention this in that bigger writing project I am working on. When I was a kid, I had a limited amount of money to buy records and streaming did not exist. So if I dropped my last $10 on two records and one of them sucked, I would still play it over and over. I wouldn't accept blowing the only money I had on a lemon. Costello's "Almost Blue" felt like a knife in my heart after "Trust," yet a month after it was released, I still knew every song and every drum fill, because I stayed with it. Of course now, 40 years later, I really enjoy "Almost Blue."
I don't think we give enough time to any music these days. There's too much and we want to hear it all. So we plow through, God knows how many records a week, sometimes zipping through 30-45 seconds a song and rushing off to the next and the next. If we are not immediately satisfied, then it must be the record's fault. "Defiance Part 1" got better and better. "Guernica" is gorgeous. "This Is What I'm Here For" rocks. By my count, that's now seven excellent songs out of ten. What didn't I hear on the first pass? The same things I didn't hear on Wings' "Wild Life," Led Zeppelin "III," Queen "A Day At The Races," Aerosmith "Draw The Line," Todd Rundgren "Nearly Human," and countless others that needed time to breathe.
Albums are meant to be taken whole. And I will always have the time for the Ian Hunters of the world.
8 comments:
I got around to playing this yesterday, and I guess your review lowered my expectations. But I sure enjoyed the album as I tooled around town. The song with Todd really stuck with me, and Guernica, as you note, is another keeper. Defiance didn't bother me. I like the music to I Hate Hate, but lyrically that one fell into the McCartney Freedom zone.
Really like you revisiting this so soon and offering a revised opinion. It's true, lots of albums take some time to get to know. For me, oftentimes that happens when an album has a lot of songs on it. Costello's Get Happy!!! took me a long time to wrap my head around because it had 20 songs on it. Now, of course, it's one of my favorites.
Bill
After sending you the note, I replayed it in the car on Apple Music and it just confirmed my initial reaction. Great album. (Except for Defiance!). Bring on Part 2.
I know the feeling. For any number of reasons my attention span has been shot, and Iwant instant gratification from new music these days. Which is dumb.
I'm all about playing albums in full. And some of my favorites also take time, Richard and Linda Thompson's Shoot Out The Lights and R.E.M.'s Murmur being two examples for me. I don't fluctuate -- it's not like one day I love an album and the next day I hate it and the day after that I love it again. It's more about a slow reveal. An album that's out there might wow me at first but just doesn't hold up on repeat listens. Another album that doesn't wow at first slowly gets under my skin. Whatever direction my views take, they're almost always in the same direction. Everything But The Girl's latest is a very recent, short term example. (Usually if I don't love something it's a while before I listen to it again.) I heard the new EBTG album in a disastrous way, with the shuffle function on. (I almost NEVER use the shuffle but a friend had suggested a Wilco playlist before I saw them in concert and it clearly needed to be mixed up since the songs from each album came in bunches. Great show, by the way.) So after that initial stumble of hearing songs out of order, I started over and...liked, loved her voice and the general vibe, but not lo√ing the album as a whole. Good, not great. But a second and third listen quickly revealed the soundscapes of Ben Watt to be far more adventurous and appealing and the lyrical observations more meaningful. I'm already sure it will be on my best of the year list and looking forward -- after a pause! -- to listening to it some more. Time away, I find, is as important as repeated listens. Yours in music, Michael
"I don't fluctuate -- it's not like one day I love an album and the next day I hate it and the day after that I love it again."
That happens all the time to me. Time, circumstance, frame of mind, expectation, mood all matter to me when I listen to music. I don't say that could happen with an album like "Revolver" or "What's Going On," or with any record by The Smiths who I have always despised. But I never liked "Murmur" and then Sal Maida played "Radio Free Europe" on his radio show and it sounded so good as part of a four song run that I listened to the whole album and really dug it. When I found a copy in a collection soon after that, I played it again and my initial reaction came back. It just felt okay. I could say that about hundreds of records.
"I like the music to I Hate Hate, but lyrically that one fell into the McCartney Freedom zone."
Haha. Yeah Bill. I think you're right.
After two full spins, its a solid album with some real winners in it. It made me want to hear more from Ian/Mott, so that is a good sign. Bill's take on I Hate Hate is spot-on. Topical songs are tough to pull off lyrically, and the chorus here is more chant than sing-along. Guernica and Angel are the stand-outs for me. The backing vocals sound mechanical on the otherwise excellent Don't Tread On Me.
- Paul in DK
Totally agree that there is too much music and we don't give it enough time. I'm sure there are dozens of albums I've dismissed/discarded, most probably not to be heard again unless a friend or other whose opinion I respect rides for them. Best I can do is make sure I give new stuff my full attention and if I'm at all unsure, give it the benefit of he doubt and listen another time or two.
And Steve, I look for instant gratification too. It's the damned cell phones/internet. P.S. Love PowerPop
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