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VanderGraafKommandöh
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 04 2005
Location: Malaria
Status: Offline
Points: 89372
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Posted: May 11 2009 at 16:01 |
Oh and I'm sorry to crush the earlier thoughts by Rushman but Mike loves Rush and VdGG. So there are exceptions to the rule.
Edited by James - May 11 2009 at 16:02
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TGM: Orb
Prog Reviewer
Joined: October 21 2007
Location: n/a
Status: Offline
Points: 8052
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Posted: May 11 2009 at 16:01 |
Padraic wrote:
TGM: Orb wrote:
Padraic wrote:
OK Roblov, I think we're getting somewhere with Plague this go-round.
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Have many points... it took me about 20 lessons to really get that album (I liked it from the first try, I just didn't get what it was trying to do/why I liked it/how good it was etc.. I'm still not sure I've got everything.
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Definitely an increase in enjoyment, what I'm still struggling with is the thread throughout; it still sounds very disjointed to me. Very challenging piece of music, absolutely no question.
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Yep. Anyone listening to anything with open ears and a love for music is always great win (that said, unless it's by the Ting Tings and it's in the same room as me ) Strangely enough, I think I found Still Life the hardest VDGG album to get into. That one was the only time I first heard a VDGG album and came out at the end and said 'nothing happened'. (that said, Pilgrims is now my favourite song of all-time not by Phil Collins).
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MovingPictures07
Prog Reviewer
Joined: January 09 2008
Location: Beasty Heart
Status: Offline
Points: 32181
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Posted: May 11 2009 at 16:00 |
Ricochet wrote:
MovingPictures07 wrote:
Ricochet wrote:
MovingPictures07 wrote:
Ricochet wrote:
cacho wrote:
Damn, I did miss quite A LOT..... 20 pages of Peter Hammill's lyrics!!
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Guess Peter Hammill is the new Animal Collective.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
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Haha, no way.
Animal Collective achieves levels of greatness in their vomit than Peter Hammill ever could.
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Cut it out, that's not funny.
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I was serious.
On the plus side, I'm on my 9th album in my Tangerine Dream marathon: Encore. Pretty sweet. Every album so far has been absolute masterliness. Ricochet was especially good.
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Changing the subject, ey, you piece o-
Argh, can't help it, I love what you wrote right there.
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Just finished Encore. Then it's Sorcerer, Cyclone, Force Majeure, Tangram, and Pergamon for later tonight--in that order. Their music is such win. They should be higher on my last.fm though, since they're one of my favorite artists ever. Stupid long songs.
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Epignosis
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: December 30 2007
Location: Raeford, NC
Status: Offline
Points: 32524
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Posted: May 11 2009 at 16:00 |
Epignosis wrote:
MovingPictures07 wrote:
Epignosis wrote:
Test for Echo haters fail.
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Where did you get that?
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I was just finishing up my review.
| Besides, I don't need anybody to explain to me why Peter Hammill sucks.
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Epignosis
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: December 30 2007
Location: Raeford, NC
Status: Offline
Points: 32524
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Posted: May 11 2009 at 16:00 |
MovingPictures07 wrote:
Epignosis wrote:
Test for Echo haters fail.
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Where did you get that?
| I was just finishing up my review.
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rushfan4
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: May 22 2007
Location: Michigan, U.S.
Status: Offline
Points: 66239
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Posted: May 11 2009 at 16:00 |
MovingPictures07 wrote:
TGM: Orb wrote:
MovingPictures07 wrote:
TGM: Orb wrote:
@Shajamus, stop being obtuse
@Alex, I'm fairly confident (I've got some experience with this sort of thing, but I'm not always right ) that, from a technical/pure-poetic standpoint, Hammill's lyrics are, by and large, a cut above Peart's (in the same way that T.S. Eliot is technically leagues ahead of either of them). On the other hand, I can (I think) understand where you're coming from, and appreciate how the 'content'/meaning of them wouldn't work for you.
But yeah, Peart's the right lyricist for Rush and he's quite good... I guess my annoyance at seeing something like Hemispheres being suggested as a best lyric ever is the same feeling Harry gets when he sees Steven Wilson get mentioned in a 'most technical guitarists' thread
I understand that. I am not a poet; I only speak the musical language. Therefore, poetry to me doesn't quite have the same meaning to me as it would to someone who is passionate about poetry or literature... just like how music doesn't quite have the same meaning to someone who is passionate about music and to someone who isn't.
Because of that, the most I have to go by when it comes to lyrics is more instinctual. I'm much more attune to the music of a song than the lyrics--I typically think that the music is more important, and I listen to music entirely on the basis of understanding what is going with the musical language, not the English. I do know though that it entirely depends on the case. Sometimes lyrics are just as important, or more important. Everything is treated on an individual piece by piece basis.
The problem with VDGG is that the music doesn't work for me at all. And usually I am pretty tolerant of lyrics I don't care for as much because the music is good--they cancel out the lyrics. In VDGG, the lack of anything interesting in the music (for me, anyway) allows my mind to think about the lyrics more. Incidentally, the lyrics are entirely to the opposite of my innate, instinctual preference.
Anyway, overall, agree, people are allowed to like things as much as they like them, just wanted to mention that there is a generally objective side to lyrics/poetry as much as there is to, say, musical performance.
I agree completely with that, and I'd never say I'm qualified enough in the realms of literature or poetry to say that Peart is, compositionally, and based purely on terms of lyricism, better than Hammill. What I have to go on here mostly is preference, as I'm a musician first.
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Absolutely fine by me.
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I actually wouldn't mind being more into poetry---I find some of it really interesting, but I tend to be incredibly picky with it. Edgar Allen Poe's works are the main ones in terms of just poetry (with nothing else) that have given me some level of appreciation. And even then, not all of them have.
I'm not a man of words; I much prefer numbers.
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Which means that you need to hear Peter Hammill's House of Usher.
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VanderGraafKommandöh
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 04 2005
Location: Malaria
Status: Offline
Points: 89372
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Posted: May 11 2009 at 15:59 |
TGM: Orb wrote:
James wrote:
But those lyrics are not typical Hammill.
That's my point.
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Well, in terms of content, I think Hammill lets himself go much more specifically-personal, if that makes sense, in his solo career. His ideas are always heartfelt and deeply personal, but he avoids, I think, making them 'just' (wrong word, but sort... of, the basic content is just about himself, the implications go beyond it) about himself with VDGG.
It's not really typical, because Hammill doesn't really have a typical style or subject matter (well, at least, in that very literary 73-4 phase... it somewhat creeps in later, and when he's writing for less diverse music, he writes in a less diverse style), though of his defining characteristics - most obviously, search for meaning, tendency for metaphor and emotional catharsis - I think all are in there. Technically, it's got a clear structure (verse-verse-break-verse), but it's allowed to run very freely within that, and they're not tightly ordered, but there is a clear sense of development, which is what I'd call his 'typical' style.
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Definitely. Hammill was rarely serious lyrically for VdGG. Although he did write about personal issues in songs like La Rossa, it was Over that was truly about his break-up with his wife. He was indeed much more heartfelt in his solo work. He was his lyrical peak in the time-frame you mention too. He's never really had that many bad moments lyrically though.
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Ricochet
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: February 27 2005
Location: Nauru
Status: Offline
Points: 46301
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Posted: May 11 2009 at 15:58 |
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MovingPictures07
Prog Reviewer
Joined: January 09 2008
Location: Beasty Heart
Status: Offline
Points: 32181
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Posted: May 11 2009 at 15:58 |
Epignosis wrote:
Test for Echo haters fail.
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Where did you get that?
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MovingPictures07
Prog Reviewer
Joined: January 09 2008
Location: Beasty Heart
Status: Offline
Points: 32181
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Posted: May 11 2009 at 15:57 |
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LinusW
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: September 27 2007
Location: Sweden
Status: Offline
Points: 10665
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Posted: May 11 2009 at 15:57 |
rushfan4 wrote:
LinusW wrote:
Scotty-boy!
Did you listen to those Edguy tracks?
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1 1/2 down; 1/2 of Pharoah to go. Good stuff. Actutally reminds me a bit of Iron Maiden too.
Which reminded me that I also have a handful of Iced Earth albums, and Avantasia's Scarecrow. Probably, there are others too, but I can't think of any off hand. |
I know. While some songs are pure power-metal, they like to draw heavily from Iron Maiden and Judas Priest as well as some epic 70s proto-metal like Rainbow and even Deep Purple. Enjoyable mix.
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Epignosis
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: December 30 2007
Location: Raeford, NC
Status: Offline
Points: 32524
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Posted: May 11 2009 at 15:56 |
Test for Echo haters fail.
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rushfan4
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: May 22 2007
Location: Michigan, U.S.
Status: Offline
Points: 66239
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Posted: May 11 2009 at 15:56 |
Padraic wrote:
cacho wrote:
You own zero of good music
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My last.fm list begs to differ.
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Matter of opinion there.
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MovingPictures07
Prog Reviewer
Joined: January 09 2008
Location: Beasty Heart
Status: Offline
Points: 32181
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Posted: May 11 2009 at 15:56 |
LinusW wrote:
James wrote:
LinusW wrote:
That part of Sleepwalkers is insanely out-of-place. But it's efficient.
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It's completely appropriate and isn't supposed to be serious. Hammill was very rarely serious with his lyrics and music with VdGG.
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I said it was efficient, dammit!
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VanderGraafKommandöh
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 04 2005
Location: Malaria
Status: Offline
Points: 89372
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Posted: May 11 2009 at 15:55 |
"FLIES
As I opened the back door,
two flies were copulating on the cooker:
I found this very significant.
Late at night, my hand groped
for the aerosol.
They stayed together for the first
few seconds, wings scorched in the sudden fire,
minds disintegrating in the deadly mist.
Quite suddenly, the male tore himself away
from his penis
and dropped to the floor.
She remained, rolling around on the white enamel
and then fell through a crack into the oven.
Perhaps she had been a virgin
and thought this was what always happened.
I ate my egg
with a few pangs of conscience.
Later that night these disappeared
when another fly
shat on me from the light bulb
above my bed."
Mmmmm!
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MovingPictures07
Prog Reviewer
Joined: January 09 2008
Location: Beasty Heart
Status: Offline
Points: 32181
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Posted: May 11 2009 at 15:55 |
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TGM: Orb
Prog Reviewer
Joined: October 21 2007
Location: n/a
Status: Offline
Points: 8052
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Posted: May 11 2009 at 15:55 |
James wrote:
But those lyrics are not typical Hammill.
That's my point.
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Well, in terms of content, I think Hammill lets himself go much more specifically-personal, if that makes sense, in his solo career. His ideas are always heartfelt and deeply personal, but he avoids, I think, making them 'just' (wrong word, but sort... of, the basic content is just about himself, the implications go beyond it) about himself with VDGG. It's not really typical, because Hammill doesn't really have a typical style or subject matter (well, at least, in that very literary 73-4 phase... it somewhat creeps in later, and when he's writing for less diverse music, he writes in a less diverse style), though of his defining characteristics - most obviously, search for meaning, tendency for metaphor and emotional catharsis - I think all are in there. Technically, it's got a clear structure (verse-verse-break-verse), but it's allowed to run very freely within that, and they're not tightly ordered, but there is a clear sense of development, which is what I'd call his 'typical' style.
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Ricochet
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: February 27 2005
Location: Nauru
Status: Offline
Points: 46301
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Posted: May 11 2009 at 15:55 |
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rushfan4
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: May 22 2007
Location: Michigan, U.S.
Status: Offline
Points: 66239
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Posted: May 11 2009 at 15:55 |
LinusW wrote:
Scotty-boy!
Did you listen to those Edguy tracks?
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1 1/2 down; 1/2 of Pharoah to go. Good stuff. Actutally reminds me a bit of Iron Maiden too.
Which reminded me that I also have a handful of Iced Earth albums, and Avantasia's Scarecrow. Probably, there are others too, but I can't think of any off hand.
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LinusW
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: September 27 2007
Location: Sweden
Status: Offline
Points: 10665
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Posted: May 11 2009 at 15:54 |
James wrote:
LinusW wrote:
That part of Sleepwalkers is insanely out-of-place. But it's efficient.
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It's completely appropriate and isn't supposed to be serious. Hammill was very rarely serious with his lyrics and music with VdGG.
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I said it was efficient, dammit!
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