Both kinds of music…
Posted by: Tony L on 18 April 2002
...country and western.
I took a brave trip over the river to Birkenhead earlier tonight. Hmmm, Birkenhead, the town where chasing the dragon has been done to death - they caught it, stole its wheels, its currently jacked up on a pile of bricks at the side of the road. The reason for my excursion was the seemingly unlikely event that the Handsome Family were playing in a cavernous new example of urban renewal near the ferry terminal.
Lets get one thing straight from the start, I’m 38 years old, and old people tend to like country. So the questions you need to answer whilst reading this are am I just an old fart? Has country actually got seriously good? Both? Obviously my take on all this is that country has recently got seriously good, I have been know to rave more than a little about Lambchop (yes their current album is that good), and I’m also partial to Calaxico, Smog, the more country side of Pavement (I prefer The Fall to Pavement doing The Fall though – The Fall are country and northern, which is ok by me).
The Handsome Family are basically a husband and wife duo with the blokes brother Darrel playing drums. They look like a cross between the Adams Family and a line dancing team from Birmingham who have been returned rather abruptly from an alien abduction. They sound fabulous, exactly the right balance of orchestration, guitar, autoharp, and drums sound full and powerful, though they often swap instruments so bass melodica and primitive keyboards appear now and again. Onto the lyrics, their words are such a cool ironic, yet totally respectful slant on country, and are often really funny. A truly excellent gig.
I landed a copy of their latest album Twilight at the gig, I like buying at gigs as the band gets the shop share of the sale (about 50% or retail price), plus its cheaper, and it is often possible to get the album signed by the group (as I managed here). I’ve just given it a quick spin and its excellent, really cool quirky alternative country stuff. Highly recommended.
Tony.
Posted on: 18 April 2002 by Mike Sae
quote:
Tony asked, am I just an old fart?
Neko Case is a popular local gal who, like Kurt Wagner and Jay Farrar, is seen as a "totally f@$#ed up" country clodhopper. She's so hip that it hurts. She cut her teeth in the crappy bars of Vancouver; her small, smokey concerts were always packed with urban socialites from all walks of life.
Listen to some of her
soundbytes.
If you liked it, you're far from an old fart and you may change your name to
Tony Lumpkin.
Posted on: 18 April 2002 by Mike Sae
Posted on: 19 April 2002 by Stephen Bennett
..they are playing in Norwich in the next month. Of course country is OK. The Cowboy Junkies (early stuff anyhow) rules. But Tony, to go to Birkenhead, that's weird.....
Stephen
Posted on: 19 April 2002 by John C
"The Fall are country and northern, which is ok by me)"
The Fall's "Container Drivers" is one of the greatest country songs ever.In terms of country trucking songs its only rivalled by George Jones doing White Line Fever.Ofcourse with George white line can be quite ambiguous.
Johnn
Posted on: 19 April 2002 by JohanR
I am 44 and have always listened to rock music (in the broad sense of the word, from Buddy Holly to Nirvana). In the last couple of years my musical interest when bying new (as in recently recorded) records has been going in the direction of C&W. If somebody had told me this 20 years ago I would have punched his nose!
As Tony noted, is it me or is it the C&W world that has changed? For me, I would say, it's the rock music that has changed! For the worse. How? Well, it's hard to put in letters but I think rock music has frozen, there is nothing new happening. It is reliving the images of the past and trying to recreate it, unsuccesfully! There are exeptions, of course, but not many.
How this is with country I don't knew as it's new to me! Some generally positive notes about country:
- It's still people playing on the records (not computers).
- Those people, it has been said to me, is playing together in the studio, at the same time.
- They are not trying to make the records sound as horrible as possible.
The males are still wearing silly hats and ropes around the neck that they are calling ties!
I will check out the Handsome Family, Tony!
JohanR
Posted on: 19 April 2002 by Jay
Sorry got to agree with you dozy Lampshop doesn't feel (and sound for that matter) country to me either.
Is Ryan Adams classified as country?
Jay
Posted on: 19 April 2002 by Nigel Cavendish
Can't say that C&W as a genre appeals but for something a bit differnet try Snakefarm - Songs from my funeral, sort of American folk meets drum and bass - excellent.
cheers
Nigel
Posted on: 19 April 2002 by JohanR
Jay asked:
Is Ryan Adams classified as country?
No, I don't think so, to me it's rock and one of the few good new ones. By the way it's not recorded in Nashville, so it can't be country, can it?
The word "rock" is of course as hard to define. Is Bob Dylan rock? Was Beatles rock? Was ABBA rock (not if I have anything to say)? Michael Jackson?
And to go against my earlier post in this thread, I just went to the record store to look for some country and ended up with a new record from a Swedish group called "Caesars Palace". Distinctly far from country. It's some punkish pop good tunes thing. A note. It says "This CD is not playable in PC/MAC". Of course I had to try it in my PC at work. It played, no problems!
JohanR
Posted on: 19 April 2002 by Steve Catterall
Is Ryan Adams classified as country?
I'd have to disagree with you and say yes. Admittedly 'Gold' is certainly a step closer to rock, but Heartbreaker is pure country, ... and it was recorded in Nashville, with help from people like Emmylou and David Rawlins
For great current country try
Gillian Welsh
Lucinda Williams
Julie & Budy Miller
Nickle Creek
Patty Griffin
Posted on: 19 April 2002 by matthewr
I have The Handsome Family's "In the Air" album from a couple of years back which is also excellent.
BTW garyi should buy this album as the sleeve notes it proudly boast about it being recorded on a G4 (which is always struck me as a very un-C&W thing to do -- shouldn't it be a steam powered 4-track or something?)
Matthew
Posted on: 19 April 2002 by Dave J
As we're all confessing, I guess I'd better come clean too.
I don't think the terminology is particularly important. If it were, I'd be inclined to say I seem to be getting more into Bluegrass or what's being described as 'Progressive' Bluegrass.
'Little Sparrow' by Dolly Parson, mentioned above is surprisingly good (I can't believe I'm admitting this) particularly the admittedly slightly out-of-place version of Cole Porter's 'I get a kick out of you'. The musicianship on this track is superb - slide Dobro courtesy of Jerry Douglas, who also appears on 'Down From the Mountain' - I think the banjo player is Ron Block, who also plays with Alison Krauss amongst others.
If you haven't yet heard it, 'Beyond Nashville: the Twisted Heart of Country Music' is a terrific compilation of artists and stems the years from Jimmie Rogers in the 1930's up to Son Volt and, yes, you guessed, Lambchop. It's well worth a punt if you're becoming a little curious about your musical-orientation!
There, I've said it and I feel better. Now pass me that Ibanez 7 string and crank up the volume on that damn Marshall....
Dave
Posted on: 19 April 2002 by JohanR
Steve C wrote:
but Heartbreaker is pure country, ... and it was recorded in Nashville, with help from people like Emmylou and David Rawlins
I stand corrected!
JohanR
Posted on: 19 April 2002 by Steve Catterall
quote:
IMHO bluegrass isn't country music, it is US folk music, and all the better for it.
But country music is US folk music ... and Bluegrass is just a genre of country music.
you might just as well say Havey Metal isn't Rock music
Posted on: 19 April 2002 by Nigel Cavendish
Perhaps the problem is categorisation of music/artists into a style that is perceived in some negative sense e.g. C&W.
Perhaps the best way is simply to say what music you enjoy and let the "label" freaks take it or leave it.
cheers
Nigel
Posted on: 19 April 2002 by Steve Catterall
quote:
into a style that is perceived in some negative sense e.g. C&W
only by those that don't like it. There are plenty of people who percieve C&W in a very positive sense.
Categorising music helps you to find other similar music. That's really the point
Posted on: 19 April 2002 by Nigel Cavendish
quote:
only by those that don't like it. There are plenty of people who percieve C&W in a very positive sense.
Categorising music helps you to find other similar music. That's really the point
There are people who will not even bother to listen to C&W (or any other category of music) that they "know" they don't like simply because it is called C&W (or whatever) by those who review it.
I think to categorise music is to run the risk of alienating a potential audience. I have a couple of CDs by the Dixie Chicks which are as country as it gets but dammit they rock - they sing in tune, they can play instruments well - something that many "rock" bands cannot do - and the fun they project is so infectious it just makes you grin. When I lent these CDs to friends, however, they did not share my enthusiasm.
So what?
cheers
Nigel
Posted on: 19 April 2002 by Steve Catterall
But then if they "know" they don't like Country music ... then presumably its useful to know that a ceratin CD is country beacuse the chance are they won't like it.
People who dismiss whole genres of music are idiots who deserve to miss out on the great stuff they might otherwise find.
I generally don't find much in Hip Hop that I like ... that doesn't mean I don't like all Hip Hop ... but its useful to know what is hip hop so that I don't waste my time/money buying it. The Hip Hop I do like and end up buying I get into by personal recommendation, or from some other element that might interest me.
New CDs that are from genres that I particularly like, I can make a point of checking out - giving me a better chance of finding something that I like.
People don't have enough time to check everything out - classifying music is one way of making things easier
Posted on: 19 April 2002 by Nigel Cavendish
...ain't dat da troof.
quote:
by personal recommendation
That's the key.
I and a couple of mates meet every Tuesday to play pool or snooker, talk music and swap CDs. Our tastes are diverse so we each often get something that, individually, we would never entertain buying. Often our "prejudices" are confirmed but, occasionally, we learn something that surprises us.
cheers
Nigel
Posted on: 19 April 2002 by P
Excellent post Tony (as usual) It's on order.
Anyone else get Evan Dandos last outing? It's rather good.
P
Who's 43, enjoys Terry Wogan more than Sarah Cox in the car in a morning and thinks Big Gay Heart is the finest country song ever written and's also currently caught up in a grunge retro new found country appreciative kick etc etc
Posted on: 19 April 2002 by sceptic
The Fall is "country"?
Posted on: 19 April 2002 by ejl
quote:
is it me or is it the C&W world that has changed? For me, I would
say, it's the rock music that has changed! For the worse. How? Well, it's hard to
put in letters but I think rock music has frozen, there is nothing new happening. It
is reliving the images of the past and trying to recreate it, unsuccesfully! There are
exeptions, of course, but not many.
Listen to what's broadcast as country on most US country radio stations and I can assure you that an equal (and equally false) claim can be made about it. The self-absorbed, uninspired, and self-pitying treacle that passes for country on most country music stations (in the US, anyway) is matched only by the self-absorbed, unispired, and self-pitying treacle that passes for rock on most rock stations (in the US, anyway).
BUT, there has been an enormous amount of new, original, and exciting stuff made in both rock and country genres in recent years. However, unless you're lucky enough to live near a very progressive radio station, you're going to have to make the effort to find it; it's not going to be broadcast to you. Recommendations from like-minded friends, newsgroups, independent-label retailers, the local music scene -- that's where the good stuff is to be found, not on the air or on the major labels.
But it's silly to claim there's not much there
Posted on: 19 April 2002 by John C
"The Fall is "country"?"
So is Ornette Coleman.
John
Posted on: 20 April 2002 by Not For Me
Tony,
I thought you and I were on similar paths with shared interest in Kruatrock, electronic, trance, noise etc., but C&W? You can take this open-mindedness too far!
My only concession to this, the lowest of the low is "Jonathon goes Country" by Jonathon Richman, which I suspect is a bit tongue in cheek.
DS
Posted on: 20 April 2002 by Tony L
quote:
I thought you and I were on similar paths with shared interest in Kruatrock, electronic, trance, noise etc., but C&W? You can take this open-mindedness too far!
My view is that 99.7% of music is total shite, but the 0.3% that is excellent can appear in pretty much any genre. There is definitely something happening in country music at the moment. Bands like Lambchop (the earlier albums are the more country ones), Calaxico, Handsome Family, and many more are completely rewriting the rules. This stuff has nothing to do with the slick, polished, bland red-neck stuff about alcoholism and wife beating that gave country such a bad name in the 70s and 80s. I am sure the red-necks hate all the music I have listed, which is probably a good thing. Johnny Cash was good though (ducks and covers).
After listening to the Handsome Family album more than a few times sober (I was totally bladdered when I wrote the first post in this thread, hence the multiple punctuation errors etc), it is an truly excellent album. I just love their lyrics, they have such a warped, detached, ironic, yet somehow utterly genuine and heartfelt view of the world. Their songs really tell stories, think David Lynch rather than Spielberg though. I have been playing so much post-rock and other primarily instrumental music for a long while now that it is really refreshing to hear some beautifully crafted songs for a change.
Tony.
Posted on: 20 April 2002 by ejl
quote:
Johnny Cash was good though (ducks and covers).
Johnny Cash is GREAT. It'll be a sad day for this forum when liking Cash requires apologetics.
