[kj] NEW ALBUM - lengthy longnessness

[Tim Bucknall]

 its true the long songs don't go anywhere , whereas the long tracks on 
extremities most certainly DID
take intravenous or any of them actually

as for the singing, i've basically given up expecting any of that from JC 
these days
still loving the new  album  but  i'm starting to have sympathy for atkins, 
maybe he fired them up somehow and made them produce something  amazing ?
so what if he was a bastard i'm sure Jaz is

i don't get why geordie doesn't make more of an effort to replicate his 
classic tone, so what if you can't get the burman amps, you can model the 
sound on  effects boxes



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alex Smith" <vassifer at earthlink.net>
To: "A list about all things Killing Joke (the band!)" 
<gathering at misera.net>; "The Gathering" <gathering at misera.net>
Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2006 2:28 PM
Subject: Re: [kj] NEW ALBUM - lengthy longnessness


>
> "and one of the things that's wrong with it is that the tracks are too 
> long"
>
> I've had the album on my iPod for the past several days, trying --  
> somewhat unsuccessfully -- to warm to it. On my way home from work last 
> night, I was stopped by a friend coming out of a local coffee shop. I 
> didn't have time to take out my ipod and put it on pause (this was right 
> in the middle of "Implosion"). I stopped and chatted with my friend for 
> two or three minutes and then walked on. When I put my headphones back on, 
> "Implosion" was still trudging along -- almost as if I had paused it and 
> then resumed. There was no indication of progress. My problem with too 
> many of the tracks here is that they simply plod along endlessly, often 
> without any semblance of fruition. Middle-eights -- when they finally 
> arrive -- are bittersweet, as they signal that there's still another half 
> song to go.
>
> With the lone exception of "Majestic," there is no real definition to the 
> bass Outside of this track, you'd never know the bass parts were provided 
> by a four-stringed instrument. Poor Benny's drums take a backseat 
> throughout the proceedings, with the possible exception of "Walking with 
> Gods" -- elsewhere it's just a dull, incidental rattle (contrast that with 
> Big Paul's tribal battery on FIRE DANCES and/or What's THIS for..!)
>
> The weakest link overall, though, is Jaz. His vocals are completely shot 
> and his lyrics this time around make "Loose Cannon" read like Homer's 
> "Iliad."
>
> Like the font that blights the cover, Jaz's contributions here have a 
> "that'll do" sort've feel. Speaking of the font, I'd love to have been a 
> fly on the wall in the Russian surrealist artist's studio when he saw what 
> Jaz had scribbled on his painting.
>
> Geordie brings his A-Game to the table (especially on "Universe B," -- a 
> fuckin' B-SIDE!). I will say that, though the album overall suffers from a 
> bit of a tune famine. Not a lot of memorable hooks here. While "hooks" 
> might be the staple of the pop corps, Killing Joke -- for all their scary 
> bluster -- have always found a way to find melody in the madness, and 
> itt's a bit harder to find this time.  There might indeed be tunes here, 
> but they're largely lost in blurry compresion to my ears. There isn't any 
> space for the individual players, and the sum suffers as a result (as far 
> as I'm concerned).
>
> It's not all complaints: I quite like "Tribal Antidote," "Majestic," 
> "Walking with Gods" and the groove of "LightBringer" (otherwise sullied by 
> Jaz's vocals and adamant disregard for singing with any semblance of 
> meter).
>
> If I sound like I'm being unduly harsh, it's because I *KNOW* this band is 
> capable of better, and we've all heard it.
>
>
> Alex in NYC
>
> -----Original Message-----
>>From: fatpotanga <fatpotanga at gmail.com>
>>Sent: Apr 4, 2006 7:21 AM
>>To: The Gathering <gathering at misera.net>
>>Subject: Re: [kj] NEW ALBUM - lengthy longnessness
>>
>>On 4/4/06 11:51, "Jpwhkj at aol.com" wrote:
>>
>>> and one of the things that's wrong with it is that the tracks are too 
>>> long
>>
>>I don't think anyone would disagree.
>>I think I'm going to be wronger than 'Jack McWrong, Wrong Championships 
>>all
>>time Champion of Champions'  here but I have a niggling suspicion - and 
>>when
>>I say niggling I mean nothing more than one of those irritating midgies of
>>thought that zip past your ear every so often - that it's more akin with
>>classical structuring?
>>It started on Pandemonium with some of the breaks being overly long - the
>>break Communion being case in point - & I almost expect something to 
>>happen
>>in them but nothing does.
>>All songs have a natural length & flow - you can feel when you need to
>>insert a change or when a break is needed or something should should end -
>>all of which seems to be ignored here.
>>Lightbringer (my fave BTW) is very long, but it works because the groove
>>carries it.
>>
>>Maybe they were just having so much fun Jaz kept forgetting to start
>>singing? (sorry, shouting)
>>
>>
>>-- 
>>
>>Cats are elephants
>>
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>Gathering mailing list
>>Gathering at misera.net
>>http://four.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/gathering
>
> _______________________________________________
> Gathering mailing list
> Gathering at misera.net
> http://four.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/gathering
>