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    #26
    The Clash. London Calling is up there with Definitely Maybe for me as an album that makes me physically queasy. Lost in the Supermarket, apart from accidentally inventing the worst of The Smiths, Jesus.

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      #27
      That fucking voice Strummer. Fucking hell.

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        #28
        I think you're going a bit Reaper on us, Spoony.

        Not liking stuff from the canon of classic rock (or classic UK fashionable music) seems to be a little easy for revisionism

        I prefer G-man's approach of taking something widely derided and pointing out why it's good. Not that I accept his argument - Whitney was only good until I Wanna Dance With Somebody. And I Will Always Love You is a long way down the list of decent Dolly Parton songs.

        I might argue, from a Revisionist standpoint, that the Phil Spectorisation of the Beatles' Let It Be album actually improved it. The songs are better for having the big production. The title song, for example, gets a little redeemed from the usual Paul McCartney songs which sound like George Formby rip-offs precisely because it's so utterly overblown.

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          #29
          It’s the lack of green. I’m going full MES on those around me, let alone this board. Mild dislike becoming amplified, a slight quibble turns into a rat that's been trapped inside a warehouse base, near a city tide, brown sockets, purple eyes, and fed with rubbish from disposal barges brown and covered.

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            #30
            There’s no need to ironically dig “Never Gonna Gove You Up” like folk who watch Family Guy. It’s not a bad song. That’s my go.
            Last edited by Lang Spoon; 21-02-2018, 00:04.

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              #31
              Originally posted by San Bernardhinault View Post
              I think you're going a bit Reaper on us, Spoony.

              Not liking stuff from the canon of classic rock (or classic UK fashionable music) seems to be a little easy for revisionism

              I prefer G-man's approach of taking something widely derided and pointing out why it's good. Not that I accept his argument - Whitney was only good until I Wanna Dance With Somebody. And I Will Always Love You is a long way down the list of decent Dolly Parton songs.

              I might argue, from a Revisionist standpoint, that the Phil Spectorisation of the Beatles' Let It Be album actually improved it. The songs are better for having the big production. The title song, for example, gets a little redeemed from the usual Paul McCartney songs which sound like George Formby rip-offs precisely because it's so utterly overblown.
              Across the Universe original mix (you can get it on Past Masters Vol. 2) is tons better than the Spector mix. Lovely guitar.

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                #32
                I’m also struggling to imagine something as massively overblown as Hey Jude on ukulele. Though doubtless some beardo fuck has done just that. And Helter Skelter. Fucker would deserve blisters on his fingers.

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                  #33
                  Originally posted by Lang Spoon View Post
                  Across the Universe original mix (you can get it on Past Masters Vol. 2) is tons better than the Spector mix. Lovely guitar.
                  Anthology 2 version is better still

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                    #34
                    Originally posted by Lang Spoon View Post
                    on a Sunday evening Proper Music documentary on Radio 1 after the charts.
                    Oh man Spoony, you've just given me a Proustian rush there. I used to love listening to those back in the mid-'90s, still doing my homework after the chart rundown had finished at 7pm (see recent thread on Sundays-when-you-were-growing-up), as you'd discover and learn about some really interesting music history stuff. Then Radio 1 evidently decided it was altogether too grownup and informative, and installed Dave Pearce's Dance Anthems in the post-chartshow slot instead, and it was all downhill from there.

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                      #35
                      Originally posted by Lang Spoon View Post
                      Then all you’ve got is a Simple Jack piano riff.
                      I don’t know what that means, but I stand by my contention.

                      It still needs vocals to do a melody. But if the lyrics were about something better than that half-baked hippy shit, it would be good.

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                        #36
                        Originally posted by Lang Spoon View Post
                        That fucking voice Strummer. Fucking hell.
                        It’s my favorite voice in rock history.

                        London Calling the single is great. The rest of the album isn’t as good as that, though. It’s also my favorite album cover.

                        I like their greatest hits and some of their live performances, but I’ve come to see that I like the idea of the Clash more than the actual Clash. I like some of the bands they influenced - like Rancid and Social Distortion - better than them.
                        Last edited by Hot Pepsi; 21-02-2018, 02:46.

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                          #37
                          My slightly revisionist opinion is that Vanilla Ice’s Ice, Ice Baby is a great track.

                          Indeed that era is a gold mine for great dance/pop hip hop singles. I think all that does because of the crackdown on sampling.

                          Probably not a coincidence that the Aresenio Hall show, which was big at the time, featured a lot of that stuff. When they tried to revive that show recently, it failed. Nothing as exciting as a live performance of The Humpty Dance.

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                            #38
                            Originally posted by Lang Spoon View Post
                            There’s no need to ironically dig “Never Gonna Gove You Up” like folk who watch Family Guy. It’s not a bad song. That’s my go.
                            Political satire in a music thread. I like that. There's a thread to be had there: Great Tories in Pop Songs. (And I've gone and made one)

                            In seriousness, though, you touch on another point of revisionism: Stock Aitken Waterman. They produced some great pop music for a while. "Never Gonna Give You Up" marks the beginning of the end to that.

                            Earlier hat year they still had a superb pop-dance hit with "Respectable". With the super success of Astlkey's song, they stuck to a formula. The tunes, the arrangements and the production started to sound the same, and the singers were quite interchangeable. There were a few gems still --"I Should Be So Lucky" is a decent pop number, for what it is -- but because it was arranged exactly like all the other songs, it was just a drop of freshwater in an ocean of saltwater. In the end it made no difference of a SAW song was by Kylie, Rick, Sonia, Jason, some other white kid with awkward dance moves. Even their productions with Big Names were the SAW formula.

                            All that is to say that SAW were rightly despised. But their catalogue up to 1987 includes some material that deserves our appreciation for their skills.
                            Last edited by G-Man; 21-02-2018, 06:22.

                            Comment


                              #39
                              Originally posted by Hot Pepsi View Post
                              My slightly revisionist opinion is that Vanilla Ice’s Ice, Ice Baby is a great track.
                              While I believe your use of the word "great" is a little strong, I've always thought that it does get discredited somewhat.

                              Believe it or not, he was actually fairly credible in rap circles before record execs got their hands on him and Ice, Ice Baby is the obvious turning point - lyrics full of drug and gun references should hardly be radio friendly yet if you let other people dress you up like a twat and make you move like you've got St Vitus' Dance, suddenly it's OK.

                              Next thing you know, you're covering Average White Band and rapping odes to the Ninja Turtles.

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                                #40
                                For some reason, I'd managed to get it into my head that I Can't Wait by Nu Shooz was somehow related to Stock, Aitken & Waterman, but apparently it isn't. Anyway, that's one of the great pure pop songs of the 1980s, is that, and not because of the weird synthesised "dog" noises.

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                                  #41
                                  You're all thick and ugly and smell; Sloop John B is a truly wonderful single.

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                                    #42
                                    As is often stated, Mel & Kim were certainly the best of the SAW stable - and You Spin Me Round still stands up, of course. And that Hazell Dean song. I'll also concede that I've always liked their own Roadblock.

                                    Go on then, I'll add Astley's Whenever You Need Somebody to this ever-expanding list: a trillion times better than bloody Never Gonna 'Gove' You Up, that's for sure.

                                    (According to Wiki, they produced something by Danse Society of all bands - which sounds beyond credulity, but who knew?)

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                                      #43
                                      Originally posted by 3 Colours Red View Post
                                      While I believe your use of the word "great" is a little strong, I've always thought that it does get discredited somewhat.

                                      Believe it or not, he was actually fairly credible in rap circles before record execs got their hands on him and Ice, Ice Baby is the obvious turning point - lyrics full of drug and gun references should hardly be radio friendly yet if you let other people dress you up like a twat and make you move like you've got St Vitus' Dance, suddenly it's OK.

                                      Next thing you know, you're covering Average White Band and rapping odes to the Ninja Turtles.
                                      Great means something different to you than it does to me, probably.

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                                        #44
                                        To go back to the OP, my Google-fu is failing me but there is a MP3 or maybe Youtube video out there of Whitney doing one of her hits, but with purely the isolated vocal. It's superb.

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                                          #45
                                          How about these?



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                                            #46
                                            Originally posted by G-Man View Post
                                            Political satire in a music thread. I like that. There's a thread to be had there: Great Tories in Pop Songs. (And I've gone and made one)

                                            In seriousness, though, you touch on another point of revisionism: Stock Aitken Waterman. They produced some great pop music for a while. "Never Gonna Give You Up" marks the beginning of the end to that.

                                            Earlier hat year they still had a superb pop-dance hit with "Respectable". With the super success of Astlkey's song, they stuck to a formula. The tunes, the arrangements and the production started to sound the same, and the singers were quite interchangeable. There were a few gems still --"I Should Be So Lucky" is a decent pop number, for what it is -- but because it was arranged exactly like all the other songs, it was just a drop of freshwater in an ocean of saltwater. In the end it made no difference of a SAW song was by Kylie, Rick, Sonia, Jason, some other white kid with awkward dance moves. Even their productions with Big Names were the SAW formula.

                                            All that is to say that SAW were rightly despised. But their catalogue up to 1987 includes some material that deserves our appreciation for their skills.
                                            The nice touch here is that Mike Stock was a rabid Tory, so he satisfies the thread on two counts.

                                            He was also a Grade A wanker, who helped to get me chucked out of my first proper band. The first part of that sentence is in no way connected to the second.

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                                              #47
                                              Originally posted by Kevin S View Post
                                              How about these?
                                              The "How Will I Know" was the one I heard.

                                              Comment


                                                #48
                                                Originally posted by Jah Womble View Post
                                                ...and You Spin Me Round still stands up, of course.
                                                What's painful is that it's the single, but by no means their best. I'd put Brand New Lover, Lover Come Back to Me, and even My Heart Goes Bang Bang above it.

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                                                  #49
                                                  Originally posted by WOM View Post
                                                  What's painful is that it's the single, but by no means their best. I'd put Brand New Lover, Lover Come Back to Me, and even My Heart Goes Bang Bang above it.
                                                  Just to continue with my 'I knew Stock briefly' for the sake of another anecdote; my best mate's sister did the demo for this, before SAW gave it to Pete Burns, so we had a listen. We thought it was simplistic drivel, and wouldn't fly.

                                                  Which is why he's a multi-millionaire, and I'm not.

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                                                    #50
                                                    Yeah, I think it's the simplistic-ness that's so grating. With another few hours' work on the lyrics, it could have been quite something. It's almost like they recorded the first draft instead of working the idea for a while.

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