| Author | Message | ||
     Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 471 Registered: 01-2005 |
Wow, what a great concert last night in Detroit! However, the ride down was miserable due to the heavy snowfall, the wind and drivers going way to slow! Midlake really appreciated everyone coming to the concert with the fowl weather outside. I was really impressed with the vocals. They hit all the notes, and were a very professional band. Interesting film clips projected onto the backstage wall, including clips from Tess, with the lovely Nastassia Kinski. I noticed something was missing, so between songs I asked the lead singer Tim Smith, "Where's the panther mask"? He and guitarist Eric Pulido (who wore the mask on the album cover) remarked that someone had stolen the nose from the panther in Montreal! Anyway, I had my McLennen t-shirt on, and my friend Cindy from Lansing took some digital photos, which I will post soon! I didn't hit the sack until 2AM, got up at 5PM and then hit more miserable driving on the way to work. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1574 Registered: 03-2006 |
I'm glad they were good, Michael. Someone on the board who saw them apparently caught them on an off night. I would think the fairly intricate sound of that record would be difficult to reproduce live. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 372 Registered: 08-2006 |
Okay, someone convince me to buy this CD. I know I'm probably the only schmo on this board who doesn't have it, but I did listen to some stuff online and it didn't exactly grab me. Then again, from what you've all said, it sinks in, it doesn't grab. Still, I have concerns it might veer too much toward AOR for my taste. Of course, I love Fleetwood Mac, AOR mainstays and an oft-cited influence of the band. On the other hand, Lindsay Buckingham's weirdness is what attracts me to FM, and maybe Midlake doesn't have that edge. I'm a mess of contradictory feelings. Help! | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 1002 Registered: 03-2005 |
I should send you my copy, Rob. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 374 Registered: 08-2006 |
Randy, that's very kind, but do you really mean YOUR copy, not a copy of your copy? I'd take that as a no-confidence vote in the album, naturally. Michael, LK, chime in. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 1004 Registered: 03-2005 |
They love it. I view it as an impurity in my collection. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 1238 Registered: 04-2005 |
Ah, Randy, I respect your anti-Midlake stance against the roar of the crowd on the board. I'm sort of on the fence about the group myself. If Kevin's going to disappear on us, we need someone to fill his role and you're my nominee at this point. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1580 Registered: 03-2006 |
Randy, you do crack me up. "Impurity in my collection"? What is your collection, the master race of collections? Midlake spoils its otherwise perfect, Aryan blonde beauty? Rob, I have to retreat to my food analogy. If you don't like chocolate, no amount of haranguing is gonna change your mind...by the same token, no witty exegesis of their work, or impassioned defense of Midlake will sway you if you're just not feeling it. But hey, that's cool - it's sort of like the discussion of Lucinda. She's great whether or not I can do her justice in describing her...it's up to the world to get her...miss her at your peril, basically...It is, as they say, what it is... Admittedly, the joys of Midlake are more subtle. It's not the same kind of "hit you over the head, and steal your lunch money" brilliance as Lu.... | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 1241 Registered: 04-2005 |
You heard the new Lucinda Williams yet, LK? My friends bought it last night but I haven't heard it yet. The burned me a copy for my return trip, which will be cool. I promise I'll buy an "official" copy when I get home, for those of you that care. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 376 Registered: 08-2006 |
My kvetching about Midlake is actually symbolic of my problem with Internet-available music. So often now, I hear a track or two online when I'm deciding to buy a CD and it throws me into a quandry. The music is entirely divorced from its context - being the album it appears on - and if it doesn't grab me from the outset, I don't buy the CD. I've missed a ton of good CDs this way. The solution, of course, is to stop listening to preview tracks, but curiosity gets the best of me. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 1006 Registered: 03-2005 |
Preview tracks can be great, but how many of us got sucked in by the initially sensational-sounding record that ultimately proved lacking in texture and depth? Back in the old days of CDs(!), a few of my usual haunts had listening booths. Those really came in handy but they also led me astray more than once. Hardin, I have plenty of astonishing crap in my collection. But I need it to be ASTONISHING crap. I need brio in my bad. One man's subtle is another man's inaudible.  Seriously, I'm just not into 70s revival records. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 474 Registered: 01-2005 |
I can see some LB/SN 70's era Fleetwod Mac in Midlake, however they are missing the female vocal element. Their drummer lays down a powerful pattern in the Mick Fleetwood style, but their bassist is no John McVie. I have the new Lu on order as well as the new Patty Griffin. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 378 Registered: 08-2006 |
You're right, Randy, it cuts both ways - preview tracks can make a bad CD seem promising or, as I often discover, can make a good CD seem unremarkable. A lot of my favorite bands/albums - the GBs are a great example - took time to sink in. Skipping through a couple tracks on a Web site just doesn't afford the same listening experience. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1582 Registered: 03-2006 |
They're definitely 70's-influenced, Randy, though I don't know if I'd use the word "revival"...don't know if it's really a burning mission for them, and plus, I think the influences are very organically integrated into their stuff... I don't really get the idea that music can't be subtle, or has to have an "edge" to be great art. Clearly not true. If by not having an edge we're talking about not having any sonic rough edges, then you could pile a stack of CDs to the moon of great, epic music that doesn't have an "edge". Including all kinds of stuff I love - Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Prefab Sprout, Nick Drake, Jobim (and his great interpreter, Joao Gilberto), Joni Mitchell, Tony Bennett, the Pernice Brothers, and oh yeah, those dress-wearing louts from Brisbane. If by "edge", though, we mean heart, guts, moxie, passion, soul, etc., then I think it can be persuasively and readily argued that the groups mentioned above have beaucoup soul. As does Midlake, for me... But there's a perfect solution for you to restore your collection to its former pristine glory, Randy. Send your copy of Midlake to Rob. This board is great that way - it's like a musical matching service. I'm sure he'll reciprocate in some way... The new Lu is not quite up to "Car Wheels", Michael, but it's still damned good. Just so it doesn't seem like I'm always reflexively lauding her though, I have to say, it has a song on it called "What If", that I believe is the worst thing she's ever done. It's even worse than "Broken Butterflies" her previous alltime low. But the rest is just stone brilliant. The Patty Griffin, and I have to include the caveat that I'm not as well-versed on her, sounds to my ears like it IS the best thing she's ever done. I'm usually way into instant gratification to order stuff - I just impatiently head to my local retailer. But, it is a real charge when the stuff you order arrives in the mail... | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 379 Registered: 08-2006 |
I subscribe to your definition of edge, LK. For me, it's that quality in good music that surprises you, whatever form it might take - strange turns of phrase, an unexpected guitar fill, a chorus that zigs when you expect it to zag. I hear so much music on the radio these days that's just depressingly serviceable - Dave Matthews imitators, "American Idol" prefab, neo-soul retreads. It really makes you appreciate the great stuff when you find it. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1584 Registered: 03-2006 |
Well put, Mista Rob... I was distracted for a moment by your mention of Dave Matthews - every fiber of my being was occupied with hating him. He's bad enough, let alone imitators of him...I used to love it when he'd play the N.O. Jazzfest, because it would be a magnet for all the booty-heads (to use my nephew's word), drawing them to that end of the fairgrounds, so you could see whoever, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, the Nevilles, etc., relatively unfettered... | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 380 Registered: 08-2006 |
As I'm sure you know, LK, Mr. Matthews achieved an unintended notoriety here in Chi-town when his bus driver used our (admittedly fetid) river - not to mention a passing tour boat - as a toxic dump site. I'm sure DM was genuinely chagrined by the whole thing, still I always found the event an apt metaphor for his musical career. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1586 Registered: 03-2006 |
Yeah, I noted that incident with no little amusement. Guess it wasn't so funny for the poor hapless tour boat riders...though, as you point out, it's probably not unlike listening to his music. But, didn't Matthews escape being blamed for that? Did they ever successfully pin the er...poison poo-poo payload on him? | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 382 Registered: 08-2006 |
Not on him per se, but on his driver, as I recall. Still, he was the driver's employer and our attorney general went after DM pretty hard. I think he ended up paying $200,000 to settle the civil lawsuit and donated $50,000 to the Friends of the Chicago River and $50,000 to the Chicago Park District. Costly shit, as it were. | ||
| andreas Member Username: Andreas Post Number: 434 Registered: 04-2006 |
hardin, that someone was me. unfortunately the night i saw them, wasn't there night. the venue, the technical problems and the atmosphere. nothing fitted. but i became accquainted with fionn regan and that was a highlight. | ||
| TROU Member Username: Trou Post Number: 80 Registered: 05-2005 |
They're coming back in Belgium in april. In the fine venue associated with the Go-betweens during their last tours. Hope I'll don't miss them this time. |