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Soundtracks Of Our Lives w/e 1 August 2010 CE
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IanB
IanB
6761 posts

Edited Aug 02, 2010, 09:43
Re: Soundtracks Of Our Lives w/e 1 August 2010 CE
Aug 01, 2010, 11:01
Mainly a week of Glass, Mahler, Strauss, Ellington, Porcupine Tree Ulver and Opeth (strangely gloomy lot for mid Summer - Ellington aside) but one record has been played (to death) this week more than any other ...

The Tubes - s/t

Musically it's "Station to Station" meets "Zoot Allures" / "Zappa In New York" era FZ without the misanthropy but with a fair helping of Be Bop Deluxe and mid 70s pomp. Not prog, not metal, not jazz-rock. Kind of glam. Kind of not. Simultaneously camply theatrical and instrumentally as muscular as anything else of that era's rock mainstream. On the pop side of the coin there are the kind of song structres that are clearly deeply influenced by Todd Rundgren circa 1974 and they also share his jaw dropping eclecticism as the band flit from idoim to idiom while keeping it completely convincing - not least this because of the fantastic rhythm section. We also have some of the greatest ridiculous yet pithy moog and guitar solos ever committed to vinyl. No one over-plays because there is a real sense of this music having been written for the stage and that it has been honed in front of a live crowd rather than fixed in post production. These are literally show tunes with a hefty dose of Noel Cowardesque social satire. You also get Roxy Music's louche self absorbtion and the love-hate relationship with Americana and consumer ephemera that you find a little later in Talking Heads and Devo. Some of it is a bit E Street Band meets the Village People and inevitably parts of it have dated a wee bit but when the satire creaks the melodies and arrangements save the day. For 1975 it was a stunning achievement. Although they were never this good again, as pre Post Punk debut albums go it is up there with Van Halen I. That good.
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