Help me - I don't get it

Can anyone expain Bjork? Would anyone want to try?

Dear Tam,

I played the Sinfonietta as well, and its fiendish! In that piece he requires the bass to retune the E string to D and back again in the course of the music, and reqires special harmonic effects on the returned string as well as on the normal tuning. Of course what we did was was actually play the said harminics as stopped notes of the correct pitch on the higher strings as the request is impractical. I think this was the root of my doubts, as much as some of the music! That and his eccentric way of notating the simplest ideas. Beethoven is often very difficult to play, but at least it is obvious from the notes what the attempt should be! Even BB's Noah's Flood [opea for children] is fantastically complicated. I played that for a week's run once for the County Music Advisory Committee. My father came to one one the performenances, the only time he attended a concert of mine, and afterwards asked if he was correct in thinking I had made a mistake!I denied it as is correct form when being paid for playing. Hey Hoh! I did not like to point out that I ended up busking for several bars as I dropped a line reading at a different point. I must have coverd it well as no one else seemed to notice either! I broke out in a sweat with it immediately after! the conductor beamed at me shortly after so perhaps he was pleased with the "patch."

One day I guess Peter Grimes will attract me, but I do struggle with most of it!

It's my problem I know, and no reflection on the greatness of BB.

ATB from Fredrik

I have Britten's Cello Symphony on Naxos: that might be a way in

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Originally posted by northpole:

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Which brings me on to....Genesis - I don't get them either, especially post Peter Gabriel.

Interesting Mark - I have exactly the opposite viewpoint!

Peter

Dontcha just love music?!!!

...or Sinfonia da Requiem

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Originally posted by acad tsunami:
I can't even begin to understand the mind that finds listening to Punk, (c)rap, hip hop and heavy metal pleasurable. I find it tedious,ugly and offensive at best and downright torture at worst.

Can't disagree with you about crapipop, although there must be good things there too However, if you ever had to listen to one and only heavy metal album (under torture circumstances of course), try this one:

Blind Guardian: Nightfall in Middle-Earth

this is pure awesomeness.

quote:

Originally posted by Chillkram:

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Originally posted by northpole:

quote:

Which brings me on to....Genesis - I don't get them either, especially post Peter Gabriel.

Interesting Mark - I have exactly the opposite viewpoint!

Peter

Dontcha just love music?!!!

Unsurprisingly - I totally agree with Mark - couldn't see any point in Genesis post Gabriel - I still maintain Trespass was the best album Genesis ever made - the only Genesis album with a decent drummer. No need to repeat my views on PC they are well documented and I stand by them. If only Gabriel had joined King Crimson as it was thought he might, shortly after Trespass.

If anybody wants vinyl copies of Trick of the Tail and Wind and Withering then I have these albums in the attic and would be happy to send to somebody who liked them - I had never envisaged I'd find such a person.

There are a lot of artists that I just don't get - not sure I want to waste anybody's time educating me in their merits though. I know they are solid, I respect them, but I just don't understand them - they are cited on the forum by many members. I know it's my loss.

However, Miles Davis is mentioned several times in this thread and I'd add my name to those who just don't get him. Please regard me as a hopeless case, as I've tried listening to several recommendations from the forum, courtesy of the public library, but it remains a mystery to me.

Perhaps more surprisingly, as a lover of folk music and female vocals from that and related genres, I just don't get June Tabor. Everybody would expect me to have lots of records by her and again I've listened to her work courtesy of the public library, but her appeal with the folk world baffles me.

There's no accounting for taste.

ATB Rotf

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Originally posted by {OdS}:

quote:

Originally posted by acad tsunami:
I can't even begin to understand the mind that finds listening to Punk, (c)rap, hip hop and heavy metal pleasurable. I find it tedious,ugly and offensive at best and downright torture at worst.

Can't disagree with you about crapipop, although there must be good things there too However, if you ever had to listen to one and only heavy metal album (under torture circumstances of course), try this one:

Blind Guardian: Nightfall in Middle-Earth

this is pure awesomeness.

OK I might be tempted to give this a go

Went to the library today and got Miles Davis "Bitches Brew", Bjork "Vespertine", Springsteen "Devils and Dust" and reserved Springsteens "The River" and Brittens "Young Peoples...", "Simple Symphony" and "Peter Grimes", and Ben Fold's "Whatever ... Amen".

If I have any personal ephiphanies, or simply anything seemingly worthy to say, I will report back in due time.

I sincerely appreciate the recommendations.

Have added "Blind Guardian" to the search list.

Jeff A

quote:

quote:

Which brings me on to....Genesis - I don't get them either, especially post Peter Gabriel.

Interesting Mark - I have exactly the opposite viewpoint!

I know what I like, and I like what I know

Miles Davis is fine for me, but I do have a problem with some of the musicians he picks sometimes. I was watching his band at the Isle Of Wight festival 1970(?); Gary Bartz, Dave Holland, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Jack DeJohnette, Airto Moreira. For me, that's just AGhhhh!!.. but I expect for others it's heaven. That's great - that's the essence of jazz. Maybe I just have a problem with Keith Jarrett & Jack DeJohnette.
Bitches Brew is worth sticking with, and it is fascinating to remember while listening to it that this is the birth of fusion!
It's Coltrane that I have most trouble "Getting", but for me that makes it all the more worthwhile because when I do, I'm going to be in love with it. Sometimes the best things come to those who wait.
I was talking to my buddy Dave last week that I didn't get Johnny Cash, and he said he didn't until he saw the film - so sometimes I guess you have to find the mind of the musician before you can understand - like seeing a great painting but putting it in the wrong room.

I don't get Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones or Neil Young. I don't really get the appeal of Billy Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald or Diana Ross either.

However, there is so much music that gives me great pleasure that I wonder whether I should just accept there are fine artists who are not for me or as Janis Joplin (who I really do like enough to have bought all her albums) once sung Should I try just a little bit harder.

I don't dislike any of the artists mentioned above - I just don't feel enthusiastic about listen to them.

ATB Rotf

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Originally posted by ROTF:
Perhaps more surprisingly, as a lover of folk music and female vocals from that and related genres, I just don't get June Tabor. Everybody would expect me to have lots of records by her and again I've listened to her work courtesy of the public library, but her appeal with the folk world baffles me.

There's no accounting for taste.

Be a hell of a dull place if your last point weren't true! Like you I know my weak spots and have tried continually to try and find a way in (e.g. Coltrane, Genesis) but generally come up empty.

Just one thought on the Tabor front. I've tried a range of her albums and have found her sadly uninvolving (again like you much to my surprise) except for Freedom And Rain with the Oyster Band - up there with the best of Fairport and Trees in terms of folk-rock. But I'm sure you've tried that.

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Originally posted by Jeff Anderson:
Went to the library today and got Miles Davis "Bitches Brew", Bjork "Vespertine", Springsteen "Devils and Dust" and reserved Springsteens "The River" and Brittens "Young Peoples...", "Simple Symphony" and "Peter Grimes", and Ben Fold's "Whatever ... Amen".

That's one hell of a programme Jeff. More strength to you, but (from what I know of your tastes) if you like the Bjork I'll beat myself over the head with a stick of celery...and celebrate your eclecticness!

[/QUOTE]That's one hell of a programme Jeff. More strength to you, but (from what I know of your tastes) if you like the Bjork I'll beat myself over the head with a stick of celery...and celebrate your eclecticness![/QUOTE]

Made it through "Devils and Dust" and find it worthy of more listens. Made it through one song of "Bitches Brew", will try again as didn't feel like I was in that mood.

Didn't feel strong enough to try the Bjork, I am trying to find a "completely open-minded" time to test that water.

Jeff A

Nick Drake and Jeff Buckley are my two. I don't actively dislike either of them, just can't really see what people see in them.

Rich

i like all music, even badly recorded electric polka sung in roumanian.

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Originally posted by Sir Crispin Cupcake:
Nick Drake ... I don't actively dislike either of them, just can't really see what people see in them.

Rich

Rich

With Nick Drake, it's his wonderful detailed guitar playing and his song style that does it for me. Nick's writings were pictures from his imagination, he wasn't writing about things he knew or experienced and this is where great song writers stand-out for me. He doesn't sing about a cause or a person or some bitter event in his own life, he invents stories and sets them to music. If you want to give him another go then there is no better place to start than Five Leaves Left.

ATB Rotf

I definitely don't get Chris Barber and I didn't get jazz on the whole.

Then Traveling Dan introduced me to Oscar Peterson - "We get Requests" followed by the "Exlusively for my friends" series of recordings and that made more sense. He also got me into Jacques Loussier "Play Bach", which made far more sense to me.

Jazz still baffles me, but at least I have some artists that I now like from the genre, and therein lies hope.

There is no hope that I will ever to get Sigur Ros ( ).

Thanks ROTF - I'll try Five Leaves Left. To be honest it is a long time since I've tried Nick Drake and I can't remember which album I heard.

Rasher - John Coltrane's very hit and miss for me. Giant Steps is pretty accessible and great right the way through, with a wonderful great loping bassline. Ascension is the most unlistenable album I've ever heard though. Every now and again I give it another go, but I have never lasted more than 5 minutes.

Rich

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Originally posted by Rasher:
It's Coltrane that I have most trouble "Getting"

Thing is with Miles and Coltrane, their music evolves so much that you can easily get lost. Even if you like some of their stuffs, you might never "get" their other albums.

Maybe listening to them in chronological order might help in the sense we can still follow their intentions and visions withe their new music.

I would start with his Coltrane's earlier works first like Blue Train and Soultrane. Then move up to Giant Steps and A Love Supreme.

And after A Love Supreme? Well I can't help you with that one Truly "Interstellar"

His sessions with Monk is also worth a listen.

And I still don't "get" Birth of the Cool, Kind of Blue and Bitches Brew ...

I don't "get" the Grateful Dead. I've tried, too; they're such an indispensible part of West Coast life, especially if you're part of my demographic. I love reading about 'em. I want to like 'em. But I can't help it: where others hear inspiration, I hear amateurishness.

Bruce

I agree with you that the much admired albums like Workingman's Dead and American Beauty can sound amateurish in places and the recording quality is variable too. However, their charm breaks through and the underlying songs are good enough to carry them through.

However, it is not these albums or any from the enormous catalogue of live albums that I recommended as a place to get the Dead.

Try two contrasting albums. The first is Anthem of the Sun. which I wrote my thoughts about in The Great Albums Thread (here). If you're going to listen to this then the recent released HDCD is the one to go for - and I just play through the album, and not overly concern with the bonus tracks. Regard Anthem as a single piece of music. Phil Lesh once said that they only put titles on the tracks because Warner Brothers didn't like the idea of an album with just two tracks on it (one on each each side) called Anthem of the Sun and Anthem of the Sun (continued).

The other Grateful Dead album to try is From the Mars Hotel. This is a well produced effort with Phil Lesh ensuring everything is well recorded. The Garcia-Hunter songs are outstanding: US Blues and Scarlet Begonias are among his best ever songs. Bob Weir contributes some solid numbers too: particularly Money Money, but the stand-out track is down to Phil Lesh: Unbroken Chain. In fact, I think if you could just get hold of this album and give Unbroken Chain a few spins then it might just click in to place. I'd recommend the vinyl version - I, for one, just don't need all those bonus tracks that are inferior versions of the main album - though the HDCD sounds fine.

My favourite live set from the Dead is Europe '72 - some of the i]Workingman's Dead[/i] and American Beauty tracks sound more together on this live set than on the original studio albums. I think the musicianship on this set is very high and will dispel any thoughts of amateurism - I think they'd played these songs so many times that it was a case of practice makes perfect.

HTH Rotf

It could just be that the dead just aren't your cup of tea. I have a few LPs and that is enough to satisfy my need for them. ROTF is on the money with Europe '72. A fine album.

Rergards
Matt

If you don't get, forget it.

Life's too short.