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Unsung Forum » Dubious selections for Unsung albums... |
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Fatalist 1123 posts |
Feb 12, 2011, 23:50
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fauny fergus wrote: Moral responsibility and financial considerations... http://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/moralresponsibility.php How long have you known the album? How many times have you played it? If you're still in the first flush of excitement about it, don't review it at all. If you've played it no more than 5 or 6 times, it may just vibe you to be seeing it in your own collection. Just sayin'. (Mind you, I could've read it myself before the Aqua Nebula Oscillator review. Still like the record but, hey, i maybe got over-excited by 'em. Still stand by Charlie Feathers tho') Fair enough, but 'rules' are made to be broken :-) And anyway, in terms of moral responsibility and financial considerations, I would say that things have moved on considerably since 2000 when that was written - Spotify, MySpace, streaming, downloads etc have made it a lot easier to hear stuff without having to pay upfront. And just to sound further like a conceited prick, I think I'm now of an age when I can judge whether what I'm listening to is going to have ongoing worth as opposed to reacting to a first flush of excitement. In the best of 2010 thread, the TNP album remained my number one in what I reckon was an exceptionally good year for new music. Err, everybody check it out if you haven't... :-)
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flashbackcaruso 1058 posts |
Edited Feb 13, 2011, 00:44
Feb 13, 2011, 00:42
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Jasonaparkes wrote: I've been browsing Unsung as I feel compelled to do a few Unsung reviews some time soon and am slightly baffled at the selections appearing...how the fuck is 'Forever Changes' by Love Unsung? The first Grinderman LP (does Cave ever get bad reviews?). The first Roxy Music LP. 'Merriweather...' by Animal Collective was raved over in 2009 and topped most polls...not Unsung then. 'A Love Supreme' - the kind of an LP a yuppie character in 'This Life' raved over in the 90's Unsung? 'Y' by The Pop Group...Unsung. Really? I think some deletions of these titles should occur; though am amused that an OMD review stayed when my OMD review of Dazzle Ships got deleted several years ago. & the grief I got for a Pet Shop Boys review...when there's one there now. Odd. I love Unsung reviews, but some of the selections don't fit the bill... I totally agree that there are many reviews on Unsung which tell us what we already know, although I addressed this issue at the start of my review of The Beach Boys' 'Sunflower', which I admit has pretty much already been given its due in recent years. But sometimes enthusiasm overtakes you and you just have to write your thoughts down and get them out there. Maybe there needs to be a 'Sung' page as well, although such a thing doesn't really fit Julian's philosophy. As the writer of the recent OMD and PSB reviews, I was shocked to learn that your own efforts had been deleted. I thought that this section was supposed to be totally free of editorial control, and as both these acts receive a 50/50 mix of respect and disdain with in the more rockist circles (I remember the postbag John Peel got when he had the PSBs in for a session), I felt it totally valid to make a case for such artists being a lot more interesting than may be apparent on the surface. Now that 'Dazzle Ships' has quite rightly been re-evaluated there wouldn't be much point re-posting your review, but I'd be curious to know what your PSB choice was. A couple more points: I used to enjoy reading U Are A Ghost's reviews when he wrote them in English. Why the recent switch to Spanish? And I know I'm being a bit anal here, but doesn't it spoil the look of the page when you get a whole load of reviews without cover pictures? Isn't the cover all part of what we love about our favourite records?
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Lawrence 9547 posts |
Feb 13, 2011, 03:03
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Tried to upload pictures but it never worked for me.
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Shrimp 1118 posts |
Feb 13, 2011, 10:24
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someone talking sense,,, unsung should be there to unearth gems that others might have missed or have reappraised..thanks jason
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Jasonaparkes 876 posts |
Feb 13, 2011, 10:47
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I'm all for leftfield takes on something - so a mainstream LP could be selected and I think I've argued that point before. I don't think the reviews of stuff like 'Journeyman' by Eric Clapton really added much to the site. I didn't have a temptation to discover the transcendental joys of 'Bad Love' and 'Pretending' again... Written in Spanish or not, it's odd that an Earth LP out tomorrow is considered "Unsung" - and all the reviews I've read of Dylan Carlson & co's latest have been rather generous. The cliche of "best album yet" is even surfacing... I can understand older Unsung reviews featuring titles that might very well have entered the vomiting inducing "canon" of classic albums as they may have been reissued since, or had a 33 1/3 book or something like that. But more recent reviews on classics seem a bit pointless - a review of Y by The Pop Group seems a bit pointless following its 2007 reissue and the prior excitement of a chapter in Simon Reynolds' Rip It Up & Start Again. Another Pop Group-release or something from Mark Stewart would make more sense. A review of Metal Box, Cut or Chairs Missing, no matter how passionate or well written, probably wouldn't cut the mustard now. Are we being told about a record that is under the radar etc? The moral considerations thing cited below is another reminder...and I'm sure that I've got carried away over something and posted on an LP that in retrospect wasn't that Unsung. The selections may become harder with time, especially as everyone knows everything these days and lots gets reissued...but there are still titles that must be deleted or slipped through the net. I'd rather read those and have a chance of finding something that hasn't already been creamed over en-mass: there are fine Animal Collective albums prior to the last couple that got gushing reviews and found a place in the end of year polls...
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Jasonaparkes 876 posts |
Feb 13, 2011, 10:53
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The PSB one I wrote on was the b-sides compilation - though I think I deleted that one myself after grief on this here website. But the Dazzle Ships, Early by SP, and a bad-taste selection (Nigga Please by ODB) all got deleted. Perhaps there should be a bit more of that... It's not a science, but one difference is the very positive review for 'Common One' by Van Morrison on here - I went and checked the LP out after and loved it. This is an album not held in very high regard, especially in that Johnnny Rogan book...I'd rather be reading about VM albums I don't know than 'Astral Weeks' - which is about on the same level as 'Forever Changes'...Perhaps there should be a Sung-section... I am quite tempted to post reviews of 'Let England Shake' by PJ Harvey and 'Darkness on the Edge of Town' by Bruce Springsteen in SPANISH ...
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Jasonaparkes 876 posts |
Feb 13, 2011, 10:55
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'Call the Shots', 'Black Jacks', 'Fling', 'I'm Falling', 'Close to Love'...relentless stuff. I don't even mind that they are essentially Unsexy cyborgs. Xenomania's finest moment...
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Vybik Jon 7720 posts |
Feb 13, 2011, 11:15
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Shrimp wrote: unsung should be there to unearth gems that others might have missed or have reappraised Except that's not necessarily what it was created for.
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machineryelf 3681 posts |
Feb 13, 2011, 11:29
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Jasonaparkes wrote: 'Darkness on the Edge of Town' by Bruce Springsteen in SPANISH ... probably not a good idea in the wake of the Clarkson/Top gear hoohah recently I owe you an apology about my sour grapes comment, there does indeed seem to be some odd deletions going on, I'm sure a Khanate Things Viral review has gone and IIRC it was you had some reviews of the latter Soft Cell lps that have gone [though you may have deleted them yourself] that certainly filled all the unsung boxes [especially This Last Night In Sodom] Is there any sort of space constraint? If not then unless it's obviously a piece of self promotion or obvious trolling then let the review stay regardless of peoples presumptions. I have no idea what the Spainish Earth review is aimed at, but is it possibly aimed at some obscure South American neck of the woods doom fans for whom Earth are not that well known. As pointed out elsewhere a quick explanation of why the reviewer believes the review is required would help.
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machineryelf 3681 posts |
Feb 13, 2011, 11:34
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You have a point there, an unsung on the modern pop producers would go down well with me, I always get the feeling that large amounts of modern pop cds are 2 quality songs by good writers surrounded by dross Stock Aitken & Waterman started off producing albums with Youth IIRC, that would make a good unsung article, sorting out the SAW gems from the chaff
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