Steven Mandel seems to think it's Questlove saying "that was the take."Neil. wrote:Steve "that was the take" Mandel!
http://twitter.com/StevenMandel/status/ ... 7225975808
Steven Mandel seems to think it's Questlove saying "that was the take."Neil. wrote:Steve "that was the take" Mandel!
Wow wow wow. I'm sometimes stunned by people's taste. Famously there's no accounting for it. I will posit, though, that as you're a youngster you weren't witness to the magic of P & S when first released and didn't fall in love with it as this fascinating new minimalist politically biting thing Costello has done with little precedent. By comparison, for this old timer, SOYT is like the flaccid corpse of a drunk in a ditch (Oh God, I think Moz's arch over-exaggerated put downs of almost everything is taking its toll on me!)cwr wrote:"Stick Out Your Tongue" I have actually come to prefer over the original "Pills & Soap." I just like it better.
I agree (heresy, right?) The live version in Brooklyn sealed the deal for me.cwr wrote:"Stick Out Your Tongue" I have actually come to prefer over the original "Pills & Soap." I just like it better.
Have you read the autobiography yet? I started, but am finding it a somewhat painful read.Otis Westinghouse wrote:(Oh God, I think Moz's arch over-exaggerated put downs of almost everything is taking its toll on me!)
The Brooklyn show would have changed your thinking of WUG, I think.Otis Westinghouse wrote:I'd be keen to reappraise WUG, but somehow I can't muster up the enthusiasm to listen to it. I guess I'm just a lover of Costello live these days. .
Count me in with the rest of the heretics.docinwestchester wrote:I agree (heresy, right?) The live version in Brooklyn sealed the deal for me.cwr wrote:"Stick Out Your Tongue" I have actually come to prefer over the original "Pills & Soap." I just like it better.
nearly EVERYTIME! we are lucky.the_platypus wrote:This record is a triumph.
In terms of the writing, the content? I think it's very powerful. I'm now around the time of the first Smiths album. His formative years were excellent. It's frustrating how much detail he gives to certain things in his youth, and then he romps through meeting Marr, touring and recording with Troy Tate and then John Porter in just a few pages, spending far longer slagging off Rough Trade's Geoff Traffis than telling you what you want to know about those other things. I've commented in more detail on the Morrissey thread, e.g. on some of the wonderful writing. He is brilliant on music and poetry. At times the writing needs a good edit, and it's bizarre to me why a Manc author in Penguin Classics spells American style, WTF? It is of course very idiosyncratic, and I suspect some of the curmudgeonly stuff, e.g. with Traffis, is going to leave a nasty taste in the mouth, but it's a fascinating and compelling book. Totally recommended to anyone with any degree of Smiths/Moz fandom.docinwestchester wrote: Have you read the autobiography yet? I started, but am finding it a somewhat painful read.
If I'd been there? I have the recording, which is fine. I'm sure it would have been great. Wouldn't have changed my view of the album, which is c. 6 great songs (and in the same way that I don't get the love for SOYT - even if you prefer the arrangement, how can anyone defend the pointless and annoying 'Stick out your tongue' line, godawful - nor do I remotely get how anyone can be dismissive off Tripwire, one of EC's best examples of tunesmithery and lyrical affectingness in ages, and what a vocal performance) and a lot of generally pointless fillerish reworking of past moments.docinwestchester wrote: The Brooklyn show would have changed your thinking of WUG, I think.
Fully agree with you, the_playtypusthe_platypus wrote:This record is a triumph.
Except for the regrettable hostility of the last line, I agree with this. It's as though boredom at the failed "Stick Out Your Tongue" and "Grenade" and some sort of refusal to embrace the other, hugely successful reworkings - apparently based on some philosophy that you have to measure new lyrics by the pound in order to determine whether an album is any good - overawe all the terrific material on the album, including new songs, almost all of which are no-brainer vintage EC. I don't see why a couple of duff tracks overwhelm all the other treasures on this outstanding album. It's a response that suggests, to me, a prior skepticism about the whole enterprise...sort of a musical confirmation bias.taramasalata wrote:Fully agree with you, the_playtypusthe_platypus wrote:This record is a triumph.
What' most annoying to me about WUG is that lukewarm complaining about this fabulous record on this board. I don't get it, EC is once again heading for new land and delivering such wonderful gems as Walk us uptown, Sugar won't work, Tripwire and the complete second half of the album plus the bonus with the fascinating The puppet has cut his strings, along with great reworks like Wake me up, all done with wonderful drumming and dreamlike strings that swirl in between the sounds like a wind that connects all the different facets and all he gets from some of you on this board is moaning and knowing it better.
Better listen to your MOR Springsteen records, I recommend.
Well, yeah - I agree that "Stick Out Your Tongue" is a bore. What I don't understand is why that song sabotages the entire album. That's what I'm saying; the two failed mash-ups seem to overwhelm the rest of the record for many of the folks hereabouts, and I find that odd. I must have missed the memo that says that EC is not permitted a couple of mediocre tracks on an otherwise excellent album.Otis Westinghouse wrote:Not from me, old chum, I was dying to love this record and when the first songs were aired and a journalist pronounced it a future classic, I was salivating. I also enjoyed hearing Brooklyn Bowl a lot ahead of the album.
My objection to the insertion of those lines from Nat Ran into SOYT is not so much based on whether it creates an interesting new mash-up or works conceptually (you can make claims for both, although it's an incredibly self-referential game) but much more on how it plays as a song. For me the great Pills and Soap loses it's bite and venom in this dullsville arrangement, and then once the leaden 'Stick out your tongue' line arrives, well I'd be hitting skip if I was listening to this song at all.
I don't see why I have to embrace the entire album. I just wish he'd made something that really felt 4 or even 5 star, not, as Wardo has it and I am nodding, three star.