The Chatterbox, Random Music Discussion

I guess they have good musicians at least.

Still waiting for the collabo with Excision.

I tend to have a hard time with Word Salad Lyrics. I guess I'm just so used to songs having a singular, concrete meaning. That said, I still enjoy songs that have Word Salad Lyrics, but it's just harder for me to get into them. Heck, even "Bohemian Rhapsody" took me about six listens to get into.

How do you feel about songs with lyrics in a language other than your first?

I haven't listened to enough to form an opinion. I think the only non-English songs I've ever heard are in Spanish, and I'm somewhat fluent in Spanish as it is.

I find that I typically prefer music without lyrics.

I dunno whether my being an instrumentalist myself has to do with this.

I find that my mode of appreciation changes if I'm listening to a song for its lyrics. For example, "Where Is The Love" by Black Eyed Peas appeals to me via its lyrics, but it's sorta awkward listening to it — since I'm enjoying the sound less than the words.

Occasionally, there's a song that is appealing in both ways — has appealing music and also a specificity to its lyrics (i.e. not just generic feelings of love sort of lyrics) but those are rare. One example is "The Devil Went Down to Georgia".

I think I have a different mode of appreciation for stuff I appreciate for its lyrics, distinct from appreciation for stuff I appreciate for reasons other than its lyrics. This applies even to some songs with lyrics — I basically end up treating them as something to sing along to, maybe with snippets of meaning. Obviously it can't be something that's completely incompatible with the music, but as long as the lyrics are something generic and without much "specificity" (for lack of a better term) to its meaning, I can enjoy them.

In fact, even semi-Engrish works:

For a melody this good (Wild ARMs 4 opening song), the words are practically an afterthought, merely adding additional meaning to the song. I can easily just reframe the meaning of words to fit the narrative presented by the music.

Sometimes I end up tweaking the lyrics myself to make the work better as I sing along with them:

TL;DR - for me, the music itself has an inherent meaning, and if I like it enough, I prefer generic words, because if the words present a different meaning then I have a problem.

(another example: Uncle Kracker's song "Follow Me". Love the song; lyrics make me uncomfortable because they reference an extramarital affair. I've actually rewritten the lyrics to be generic comforting lyrics, a version I prefer.)

edited 21st Aug '14 1:10:58 PM by GlennMagusHarvey

I used to hate Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (mostly Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds), though I bought an old copy on a whim recently. This old mix sounds a whole lot better than the one they currently sell. Even Lucy in the Sky sounds good, and the songs I already liked sound mostly the same.

Which old mix? I hear the Beatles themselves considered the first, MONO mix to be better than the stereo mix. Yet for some reason, the stereo mix was the only one available on CD until that The Beatles in Mono box set came out.

edited 21st Aug '14 6:29:09 PM by MetaFour

I've heard that the remasters made for The Beatles: Rock Band were pretty good.

edited 21st Aug '14 11:56:38 PM by Xeroop

For soundtracks, the music can be performed by a synthesizer (i.e. computer-generated sounds, even if it's using a really good soundset and performance touches are added afterwards), or it can be performed by real people on real instruments. What's the term for the latter?

It could be score, although I'm not sure. Score might just apply to all soundtracks.

...a soundtrack?

I don't think there's a specific term for it; as soundtrack is a soundtrack.

What about "recorded live" vs. "synthesized"?

Wouldn't simply "live" and "electronic" work just as well?

I was under the impression that disliking Sgt Pepper was punishable by death.

Depends on who you ask. Some people will lynch you for saying a bad word about it. Some people, even among Beatles fans, think the songs (minus the production) aren't much to write about, and that its repuation as boundary-pushing experimental music is largely undeserved.

Hmm...strange. Isn't it the consensus best album of all time?

Only if you ignore the critics who disagree with that consensus.

Apart from being one of the first examples of a Concept Album, I don't know... I'm personally not that big of a fan. Don't get me wrong, I do like it, but it's not one of my favourites, even out the catalog of The Beatles.

Ground-breaking when it came out, sure, but at least for me it kind of feels like a case of Seinfeld Is Unfunny.

Then again, just my opinion, no need to flank me for that.

I dunno. I don't know what else would even be considered for that title anyway, because I am green as grass when it comes to music.

The most common contenders seem to be Radiohead's OK Computer, The Beach Boy's Pet Sounds, titular release by Velvet Underground & Nico, Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, half of The Beatles and Bob Dylan back cataloqs and any random David Bowie album from the 70's.

edited 30th Aug '14 1:51:51 PM by Xeroop

I could make some pretty reasonable arguments against most of those, although I do like many of them quite a bit. If we are talking about importance, however, and only talking about rock... Revolver, The Velvet Underground & Nico, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Easter Everywhere and Let It Bleed are all pretty damn solid.

The issue of best album ever is mired in subjectivity, and any declaration claiming to be objective would be controversial to say the least. I may have said this before, but even if there is an objective 'best album,' it would be impossible to find out what it was, as that would require, at the very least, having listened to all music ever released. That said, it's obviously In the Nightside Eclipse you fucken plebs.

edited 1st Sep '14 11:48:00 PM by CardsOfWar

Nah, the best album ever in the history of modern-day pop music is Melodic Hard Cure.

Nah, the best album of all time is obviously Now That's What I Call Music, vol. 83.

In terms of actual favorite albums, mine is either Ys by Joanna Newsom or Homogenic by Bjork. Those are my respectable choices, at least-I'm also terribly fond of Lungs by Florence And The Machine.