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Post by jrmugz on Jan 16, 2015 12:48:03 GMT
I'll be on it soon, tonight probably. OK, I'll brace myself for your review. Jim
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Post by Helmut83 on Jan 16, 2015 15:53:00 GMT
I'll be on it soon, tonight probably. OK, I'll brace myself for your review. Jim Yeah, put a helmet on and your antibullet coat because I'll start shooting everywhere in order to destroy this album!
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Post by jrmugz on Jan 16, 2015 19:50:27 GMT
OK, I'll brace myself for your review. Jim Yeah, put a helmet on and your antibullet coat because I'll start shooting everywhere in order to destroy this album! Archie Bunker to Helmut: "Just post the review, hah?" Jim
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Post by Helmut83 on Jan 16, 2015 20:27:37 GMT
No, no, I have to do it right. 7/10 songs thrashed reviewed. The rest is missing but I have to do it properly.
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Post by jrmugz on Jan 16, 2015 21:18:31 GMT
No, no, I have to do it right. 7/10 songs thrashed reviewed. The rest is missing but I have to do it properly. Before your review, I should let you know of the liner note for it that says "The musical inspiration for this whole CD was none other than the great Marie Fredriksson, from my favorite band Roxette. So like she says, to diss this CD is to diss Roxette. Ha ha ha." Not that I'm trying to make you biased towards the CD or anything. Just thought you might want to be aware of that liner note which may (or may not) have possibly appeared in the CD artwork. Jim
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Post by Horacewimp on Jan 16, 2015 21:31:46 GMT
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Post by jrmugz on Jan 16, 2015 21:51:40 GMT
Was that just after where it said the album was dedicated to the 1986 Argentina World Cup football team What are you winking for, he'll think the liner note wasn't actually there, which it most certainly was! Yeah, I was really surprised to find out that he was not only an ELO fan, and that his favorite album was "Time"; but that he was an avid fan of the Argentina World Cup football team. Jim
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Post by Helmut83 on Jan 16, 2015 22:45:02 GMT
No, no, I have to do it right. 7/10 songs thrashed reviewed. The rest is missing but I have to do it properly. Before your review, I should let you know of the liner note for it that says "The musical inspiration for this whole CD was none other than the great Marie Fredriksson, from my favorite band Roxette. So like she says, to diss this CD is to diss Roxette. Ha ha ha." Not that I'm trying to make you biased towards the CD or anything. Just thought you might want to be aware of that liner note which may (or may not) have possibly appeared in the CD artwork. Jim Hhhmmm... I see... but why do I get the idea that the "may not" has much more chances than the "may"? Could it be due to the fact that Marie Fredriksson only wrote about 10% of Roxette's songs, if most? In any case, sorry Marie, I can't believe I'll be doing this but I'll have to diss you this time. * grabs the axe* Just wait for tonight...
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Post by Helmut83 on Jan 16, 2015 22:50:01 GMT
Was that just after where it said the album was dedicated to the 1986 Argentina World Cup football team Really? Well, I was just starting to like the album, but now that I know that he dedicated it to a team led by a drug addict who scored goals with his hand, the whole idea I had about it changed in the most negative of ways.
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Post by jrmugz on Jan 17, 2015 2:42:16 GMT
Was that just after where it said the album was dedicated to the 1986 Argentina World Cup football team Really? Well, I was just starting to like the album, but now that I know that he dedicated it to a team led by a drug addict who scored goals with his hand, the whole idea I had about it changed in the most negative of ways. Ten bucks says when the dust clears on your review, it'll be just like my prediction of everyone's review: "I'm glad it means a lot to you Jim, but its really not my thing, yada yada yada...." Jim
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Post by jrmugz on Jan 17, 2015 3:02:49 GMT
One other thing to keep in mind, while reviewing Ideola, Helmut. Namely, that since there may likely be future forum CD projects in addition to the one we just created, I can always encourage my daughter to be somewhat "slightly creative" or "avant-garde", if you will, regarding how she describes the credits on those future projects. Mwahahahahahahahahahaha!!!
For instance,
"*** This piece of schlock of a song (as someone once described several of Ideola's songs) was 'composed', if we want to call it that, by some ragtag lunatic from South America."
Jim
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Post by Helmut83 on Jan 17, 2015 5:10:26 GMT
Shhhhh, enough crying ... and enough opening the parachute. Here I come, and I'm not in the mood for anaesthetics so this might hurt. Not really, I quite liked the album. I didn’t find it extraordinary, but very decent. Except for 3 or 4 songs, I quite liked the rest and if the question was “was it worth the listen?” the answer would be “yes, no doubt”. It has quite a lot of rhythm, great singing by Mark Heard (whom, to tell the truth, I didn’t know) and good ideas about how to make and interesting project, even when not all of those ideas arrive at good port. Although I will enumerate more cons that pros, that’s only because it’s easier to note the things that you think were out of place or could have been corrected than the ones you consider were in it’s place, and doesn’t mean that I had such a hard time listening to the album. The most important con in my opinion is the leitmotiv abuse. OK, the guy made an album with this idea of it being a tribal thing, as the title says, but he stuck way too much to it, resulting in all the songs sounding too much alike in terms of sound. I mean, the Beatles did Sgt. Pepper with the leitmotiv of it being an album played by a fictional military-alike band, and there are several winks to this idea all throughout the album, but the songs didn’t sound the same at all. Sticking so much to the idea during the whole time like Heard did was not necessary and tends to tire the listener because at some point you want a change. Related to not changing, the first song I heard I liked the electronic percussion a lot, but then heard the same in the second song, and then in the third, and by the time I arrived to the fifth I was begging for a change in that aspect. Also, the percussion tended to be too prominent during some songs (for example, “How to grow up big and strong”). Then, the choruses. I think the guy has a healthy idea about trying to get short, hooky, sharp choruses, and in many songs he gets them. However, he tries that in all of the songs, and in some of them the chorus consists on just repeating a short phrase and feels like it lacks something else. And talking about choruses, the outros: too many repetitive outros in which the guy just sings the chorus over and over. Then, from an instrumental point of view, I think it lacks some things. More background layers of sound, to start with, but also some instrumental long solos. However, the result is original. It sounds very ‘80s, yes, but I’m not sure it sounds too much to anything specifically and I think the guy got his own style here (although, again, he abused of it). But I’d rate it as an OK album. Here I go song by song: - Emotional man: what does this remind me of? Genesis or something Phil Collins did? In any case, good, fast song and a good way of opening the album. Quite passionate vocals. The percussion is good one too, even when it doesn’t sound very organic. Plays a lot with left/right channel. - Is it any wonder?: very ‘80s too. The verses don’t work too much for me, but it’s the chorus what is really strong here IMO. Reminds me of ELO’s “Surrender”. Still threatening with the harmonica but he never commits himself to playing. - Watching the ship go down: nice bass, but at some point I think it lacks more layers of sound. Same as in the 3 previous song, at moments it seems like it’s only the drums and the bass. Some more background guitars or keyboards doing something more than arrangements would help. Other than that, good song. Another strong chorus, although too similar to “is it any wonder”. - Talk to me: nice percussion arrangements, going well with the idea of something tribal, but the twisted rhythm ends up dragging the song down. The chorus is too silly and repetitive IMO. This one is the first that didn’t work for me. - Go ask the dead man: again, some more backing instruments would have enhanced the song a lot, but at this point I’m realizing it seems to be the leit motiv of the album to base it a lot on the “percussion” so as to work as a modern tribal thing. All in all, good song, with an interesting atmosphere. Nice backing vocals work too. A bit slower than the previous ones, and that’s welcome. Agree with Uno about the outro being unnecessarily long and repetitive. - Love is bigger than life: tasteless. Not horrible, but it takes you nowhere. And this thing of repeating choruses so much is becoming a drag down for the album. - How to grow up big and strong: the snare sounds like a 38mm revolver, but it’s the only sin of an otherwise great song IMO. The chorus is fantastic and very inspired, has a lot of emotion and a great hook. Could have been a great hit, and after listening to the whole album, I’d say it’s the one I liked best. - Everybody dances: forced. If you want to create the atmosphere of a place where everybody is dancing, a much more natural, fluent, inspired melody and accompaniment was required. This one doesn’t transmit the necessary atmosphere of joy it intends to. The electronic percussion goes a bit too far again. - Why can’t we just say no?: an OK pop song, not too memorable either. Again, man, those outros with the endless chorus repetitions, dear Mark, do something about them! - Hold back your tears: I liked this one. Finally the bigger amount of rhythmic guitar I was asking for arrives and proves that having more of that in the rest of the album would have enhanced the thing a lot. This song has a plus on that. The melody has some mystery to it, neither happy nor sad, and the verse is quite strong.
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Post by Helmut83 on Jan 17, 2015 5:16:06 GMT
For instance, "*** This piece of schlock of a song (as someone once described several of Ideola's songs) was 'composed', if we want to call it that, by some ragtag lunatic from South America." Jim Well, except for ragtag, I don't see many lies in the rest, so I'm quite OK with it.
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Post by jrmugz on Jan 17, 2015 12:24:54 GMT
Shhhhh, enough crying ... and enough opening the parachute. Here I come, and I'm not in the mood for anaesthetics so this might hurt. Not really, I quite liked the album. I didn’t find it extraordinary, but very decent. Except for 3 or 4 songs, I quite liked the rest and if the question was “was it worth the listen?” the answer would be “yes, no doubt”. It has quite a lot of rhythm, great singing by Mark Heard (whom, to tell the truth, I didn’t know) and good ideas about how to make and interesting project, even when not all of those ideas arrive at good port. Although I will enumerate more cons that pros, that’s only because it’s easier to note the things that you think were out of place or could have been corrected than the ones you consider were in it’s place, and doesn’t mean that I had such a hard time listening to the album. The most important con in my opinion is the leitmotiv abuse. OK, the guy made an album with this idea of it being a tribal thing, as the title says, but he stuck way too much to it, resulting in all the songs sounding too much alike in terms of sound. I mean, the Beatles did Sgt. Pepper with the leitmotiv of it being an album played by a fictional military-alike band, and there are several winks to this idea all throughout the album, but the songs didn’t sound the same at all. Sticking so much to the idea during the whole time like Heard did was not necessary and tends to tire the listener because at some point you want a change. Related to not changing, the first song I heard I liked the electronic percussion a lot, but then heard the same in the second song, and then in the third, and by the time I arrived to the fifth I was begging for a change in that aspect. Also, the percussion tended to be too prominent during some songs (for example, “How to grow up big and strong”). Then, the choruses. I think the guy has a healthy idea about trying to get short, hooky, sharp choruses, and in many songs he gets them. However, he tries that in all of the songs, and in some of them the chorus consists on just repeating a short phrase and feels like it lacks something else. And talking about choruses, the outros: too many repetitive outros in which the guy just sings the chorus over and over. Then, from an instrumental point of view, I think it lacks some things. More background layers of sound, to start with, but also some instrumental long solos. However, the result is original. It sounds very ‘80s, yes, but I’m not sure it sounds too much to anything specifically and I think the guy got his own style here (although, again, he abused of it). But I’d rate it as an OK album. Here I go song by song: - Emotional man: what does this remind me of? Genesis or something Phil Collins did? In any case, good, fast song and a good way of opening the album. Quite passionate vocals. The percussion is good one too, even when it doesn’t sound very organic. Plays a lot with left/right channel. - Is it any wonder?: very ‘80s too. The verses don’t work too much for me, but it’s the chorus what is really strong here IMO. Reminds me of ELO’s “Surrender”. Still threatening with the harmonica but he never commits himself to playing. - Watching the ship go down: nice bass, but at some point I think it lacks more layers of sound. Same as in the 3 previous song, at moments it seems like it’s only the drums and the bass. Some more background guitars or keyboards doing something more than arrangements would help. Other than that, good song. Another strong chorus, although too similar to “is it any wonder”. - Talk to me: nice percussion arrangements, going well with the idea of something tribal, but the twisted rhythm ends up dragging the song down. The chorus is too silly and repetitive IMO. This one is the first that didn’t work for me. - Go ask the dead man: again, some more backing instruments would have enhanced the song a lot, but at this point I’m realizing it seems to be the leit motiv of the album to base it a lot on the “percussion” so as to work as a modern tribal thing. All in all, good song, with an interesting atmosphere. Nice backing vocals work too. A bit slower than the previous ones, and that’s welcome. Agree with Uno about the outro being unnecessarily long and repetitive. - Love is bigger than life: tasteless. Not horrible, but it takes you nowhere. And this thing of repeating choruses so much is becoming a drag down for the album. - How to grow up big and strong: the snare sounds like a 38mm revolver, but it’s the only sin of an otherwise great song IMO. The chorus is fantastic and very inspired, has a lot of emotion and a great hook. Could have been a great hit, and after listening to the whole album, I’d say it’s the one I liked best. - Everybody dances: forced. If you want to create the atmosphere of a place where everybody is dancing, a much more natural, fluent, inspired melody and accompaniment was required. This one doesn’t transmit the necessary atmosphere of joy it intends to. The electronic percussion goes a bit too far again. - Why can’t we just say no?: an OK pop song, not too memorable either. Again, man, those outros with the endless chorus repetitions, dear Mark, do something about them! - Hold back your tears: I liked this one. Finally the bigger amount of rhythmic guitar I was asking for arrives and proves that having more of that in the rest of the album would have enhanced the thing a lot. This song has a plus on that. The melody has some mystery to it, neither happy nor sad, and the verse is quite strong. Wow, I really enjoyed reading such a thorough and comprehensive review of the CD. I guess if it hit the "OK" mark with you, then that's an accomplishment. I enjoyed reading the song by song analysis, and agree with a lot of it. The CD works best for me when I'm having crazy exercise time with my kids after work, with a step in the middle of the living room and playing catch with beanbags, etc. For an exercise CD, most of it is pretty good. Also, the lyrics are interesting, but not in your face too much, and give me something to sort through things in my mind. I feel like the lyrics respect my dignity, which sometimes seems rare in our current culture. And the hooks help, I agree with the statement "Then, the choruses. I think the guy has a healthy idea about trying to get short, hooky, sharp choruses, and in many songs he gets them." I also can appreciate the statement " It has quite a lot of rhythm, great singing by Mark Heard (whom, to tell the truth, I didn’t know) and good ideas about how to make and interesting project, even when not all of those ideas arrive at good port." I can agree that it has great hooks, rhythm and singing, etc. For my part I can appreciate that when some of the songs do tend to meander, at least he's doing some hard work to try to make something work, like the "emotional ma a a a an" thing at the end of that song. I can agree that "Everybody Dances" sounds the most forced, though based on the totality of the CD, I don't think he was trying to make a dance song per se, just to complement the notion that our current culture often resembles a grand pavilion for the golden calf, to borrow some biblical imagery. For my experience with it, I bought it on cassette way back when because it was dirt cheap brand new, I think just a buck or so, and it had a cool cover. I didn't take it too seriously over the years, but as time passed, the hooks got me hooked, and I've come to realize, its "very decent" as well. An engaging, but not in-your-face, album musically and lyrically. I think of a chorus like "Watching the ship go down oh wo oh wo o..", and I just gotta play it again. Anyhow, thanks for the very cool and comprehensive review Helmut, glad that you found it worthwhile and enjoyed some of it! Jim
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Post by queenofthehours on Jan 18, 2015 18:15:54 GMT
01. Emotional Man –Puts me in mind of Duran Duran. A bit too long for me. 02. Is it Any Wonder? - Sounds very 80s; sounds as though it could have been a famous song of the 80s. 03. Watching the Ship Go Down – I like this one, a bit Echo and the Bunnymen to my ears. 04. Talk to Me – I like this one – I like the drums 05. Go Ask the Dead Man – I like this too; rather catchy. 06. Love Is Bigger Than Life – Talking Heads comes to mind with this track. 07. How To Grow Up Big and Strong – Quite like this one, this reminds me of something but I can’t put my finger on it. Very 80s –I like that. 08. Everybody Dances – One of my favourites. 09. Why Can't We Just Say No? – I like this too, very catchy 10. Hold Back Your Tears - This last one is my biggest favourite.
This is a very good album, very much of it's time but very enjoyable all the same.
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