What Are You Reading Right Now...Part Uno

[markolas]

Originally Posted by dissention

Wrong thread, but I agree. It hasn't exactly bowled me over yet.

Do people still listen to her?

[dissention]

Originally Posted by markolas

Do people still listen to her?

Do people still listen to Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks?

I don't know, her last album bombed (and rightfully so), but I predict this new one will be a monster. Too bad that "Hung Up" is one kick-ass album track and the single version destroyed it.

[Sarah]

thin blue line. the randall adams story.

it's really good. i need to finish, but a friend picked it up and started it, then ganked it. lame.

[markolas]

Originally Posted by dissention

Do people still listen to Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks?

I don't know, her last album bombed (and rightfully so), but I predict this new one will be a monster. Too bad that "Hung Up" is one kick-ass album track and the single version destroyed it.

I'm sooo over Madonna...have been since about 1998.

[markolas]

Originally Posted by cliffdweller

Uh, hell no. I just don't like jazz that sounds like Steely Dan . I DO like Ricki Lee Jones so there! And I also think John Zorn is a genius. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I don't like "jazz" packaged as a fusion of easy listening and watered down jazz. Maybe it's just her brand of "jazz" that I don't like. Yeah, that's it.

Hmm...I've never really put Joni and Steely Dan in the same boat. But, then I only know two songs by Steely Dan.

[markolas]

Originally Posted by cliffdweller

I totally agree. I've NEVER understood the appeal of Steely Dan. They are like brussell sprouts to me; much like brussell sprouts are the one vegetable I cannot stomach, Steely Dan is one of the only big bands of the 70's that I truly cannot stand.

Heh. I don't really care for '70s bands, generally. FM and the Eagles are about the only two.

[cliffdweller]

Originally Posted by markolas

Hmm...I've never really put Joni and Steely Dan in the same boat. But, then I only know two songs by Steely Dan.

Well of course I like Joni a helluva lot more than I like S.D., but to me, they're both doing the same kind of boring jazzy, adult contemporary, easy listening kind of thing. But if locked in a room and only given the choice of one over the other I'd still pick Joni in a heartbeat. I LOVE all of her albums up through Court and Spark and then it just gets too muddy for me, except for Hejira. I do like that album. As far as her current vocal quality...maybe she should have laid off the 2 packs a day habit in her previous years .

[cliffdweller]

Originally Posted by markolas

Heh. I don't really care for '70s bands, generally. FM and the Eagles are about the only two.

You don't like Led Zeppelin? Heart? Blondie? How about The Clash? There were lots of amazing bands in the 70's.

[markolas]

Originally Posted by cliffdweller

Well of course I like Joni a helluva lot more than I like S.D., but to me, they're both doing the same kind of boring jazzy, adult contemporary, easy listening kind of thing. But if locked in a room and only given the choice of one over the other I'd still pick Joni in a heartbeat. I LOVE all of her albums up through Court and Spark and then it just gets too muddy for me, except for Hejira. I do like that album. As far as her current vocal quality...maybe she should have laid off the 2 packs a day habit in her previous years .

Ermm...well, which albums of hers are you talking about, specifically? She kind of laid off the jazz stuff after Mingus.

[markolas]

Originally Posted by cliffdweller

You don't like Led Zeppelin? Heart? Blondie? How about The Clash? There were lots of amazing bands in the 70's.

LZ is too hard for me. I like '70s Heart okay, but not '80s Heart. I love Blondie, but I don't really think of them as a "70s" band. The Clash is also too loud/hard.

When I think of '70s bands, I think of...Chicago, Boston, Foreigner, Queen, etc. Blech, blech, blech.

[cliffdweller]

Originally Posted by markolas

Ermm...well, which albums of hers are you talking about, specifically? She kind of laid off the jazz stuff after Mingus.

I'm mainly talking about the stuff after Court and Spark--even on that album hints of adult contemporary were peeking through. Let's see, her 80's stuff was not all that hot...I had Night Ride Home which is pretty good and I bought Turbulent Indigo which I HATED, mainly b/c of her voice, if memory serves. It's been a long time since I listened to that. I was flipping through the channels the other day and Bravo was showing that performance of hers she put on a few years ago where she was putting a jazzified spin on stuff like "Big Yellow Taxi" and I just couldn't stomach it. Maybe that left a bad taste in my mouth . I'm sorry, the funny thing is, years ago, I was the biggest Joni Mitchell fan you'd ever meet! I just think her stuff of late is kind of unsavory due to the deterioration of her once amazing voice. I think she was a vocal peak on Court and Spark. I dunno, maybe I should give her more recent stuff another shot...

[cliffdweller]

Originally Posted by markolas

LZ is too hard for me. I like '70s Heart okay, but not '80s Heart. I love Blondie, but I don't really think of them as a "70s" band. The Clash is also too loud/hard.

When I think of '70s bands, I think of...Chicago, Boston, Foreigner, Queen, etc. Blech, blech, blech.

Oh, I guess we have different notions of great 70's bands. But Queen, Queen isn't bad. Freddie Mercury had one of the greatest rock voices ever.

More great bands/musicians of the 70's: Neil Young and Crazy Horse (or Neil solo), Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath, The Ramones, Talking Heads, Sly and the Family Stone, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, Bruce Springsteen, Linda Ronstadt, Patti Smith...all these bands came out in the 70's (with the exception of Neil and Linda but to me, they were definitively 70's) granted, they all weren't huge yet, but still...

[markolas]

Originally Posted by cliffdweller

I'm mainly talking about the stuff after Court and Spark--even on that album hints of adult contemporary were peeking through. Let's see, her 80's stuff was not all that hot...I had Night Ride Home which is pretty good and I bought Turbulent Indigo which I HATED, mainly b/c of her voice, if memory serves.

I can barely stand to listen to any of her albums before Blue, because I can't tolerate her ear-drum shattering, high-pitched squealing. Blue is truly a great album. Was never able to totally get into For the Roses, though.

I loooove C&S, Hissing of Summer Lawns, and Hejira. Don Juan's Reckless Daughter is where she kind of lost me.

The only one of her '80s albums I've heard in its entirety was Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm, and I was *not* impressed. Turbulent Indigo is right up there with Blue and Hejira for me, though...I know her voice had gotten much lower, but I kind of like it that way.

It's been a long time since I listened to that. I was flipping through the channels the other day and Bravo was showing that performance of hers she put on a few years ago where she was putting a jazzified spin on stuff like "Big Yellow Taxi" and I just couldn't stomach it.

Hmm...if this is the same show I'm thinking of...I don't think it was really a "jazzified spin" so much as she was playing the songs on a "computerized" guitar thing...she has arthritis (or something) and can't play regular guitar anymore. But I like this concert (again, if it's the same one I'm thinking of...from 1998 or thereabouts?).

Maybe that left a bad taste in my mouth . I'm sorry, the funny thing is, years ago, I was the biggest Joni Mitchell fan you'd ever meet! I just think her stuff of late is kind of unsavory due to the deterioration of her once amazing voice. I think she was a vocal peak on Court and Spark. I dunno, maybe I should give her more recent stuff another shot...

I dunno...if you really like hear early voice, I can see where you'd be disappointed with the way it sounds now. But for me, like I said, those early albums of hers make my ears bleed.

[markolas]

Originally Posted by cliffdweller

Oh, I guess we have different notions of great 70's bands. But Queen, Queen isn't bad. Freddie Mercury had one of the greatest rock voices ever.

More great bands/musicians of the 70's: Neil Young and Crazy Horse (or Neil solo), Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath, The Ramones, Talking Heads, Sly and the Family Stone, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, Bruce Springsteen, Linda Ronstadt, Patti Smith...all these bands came out in the 70's (with the exception of Neil and Linda but to me, they were definitively 70's) granted, they all weren't huge yet, but still...

Well...I like a lot of those on the list. Generally, the more mellow, country/folk influenced, the more I like them...once you start with the heavy metal-ish stuff, you lose me (Black Sabbath, etc).