Socrates

DeRank ™: 2,30

DeAge™ : 7890 days • Here since 2 november 2004

Talk Talk Laughing Stock

25 mar 05

Voto:

I have a slightly different opinion on the evolution of Talk Talk compared to the review, with which I basically share a positive judgment about the album. Their progression has always seemed to me, shall we say, continuous. In other words, between the very respectable works (far from "terribly commercial...") that are more 80s pop and those that are more "committed," I can't see an antithesis, but rather a different and more lyrical proposition of sonorities and themes that were already present.

Danny Wilson Meet Danny Wilson

25 mar 05

Voto:

In our (mine, yours, and others' friends') not always rewarding task as proponents of what we consider PdQ (pop of quality), we try to carry it out with enthusiasm. Just having made a small contribution to save an album of this genre from oblivion seems like a lot to me. It is clear that we cannot expect most people to become lovers of a genre that certainly is not very popular here. I like to think of these writings as messages in a bottle that, by fortunate circumstances or currents, can reach favorable lands and provide "salvation." ;-)

Madeleine Peyroux Careless Love

23 mar 05

Voto:

How nice when someone takes the words right out of your mouth! (if that can be said...) I also quote Hal's commas. :-)

Yo La Tengo Summer Sun

23 mar 05

Voto:

I really love this album. Kudos to zzzzz for the unmatched "nose."

Bright Eyes I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning / Digital Ash In A Digital Urn

20 mar 05

Voto:

The username had already put me in a good mood; I too am a great admirer of "The Catcher in the Rye," but the review shines with its own light. I've had the album for a while: I'm going to listen to it.

Emiliana Torrini Fisherman's Woman

19 mar 05

Voto:

I share your doubts about the method used for album reviews. For amateurs like me, the "exhilaration syndrome" that you mention, of which I believe I am also afflicted, is at least understandable. It is indeed difficult to find the motivation to write a scathing review of an album you don't like in your spare time. To "economize," it’s preferable to ignore it. I haven’t listened to the album in question thoroughly yet, but I am quite open to Torrini. ;-)
P.S. Thank you for the attention and kindness with which you chose to focus on my "oeuvre." :-))

Can Future Days

18 mar 05

Voto:

I know "Tago Mago," but not this. I'll look for it. If you're interested, there are also birdsong chirps in "Grass" by XTC; it's a different genre, of course, but there are some points of connection.

XTC Skylarking

18 mar 05

Voto:

I don’t like, just like you Gabri, simplifications. It’s easy, relying on a fortunate cliché, to ban almost all the music of the ’80s. It’s more complicated, and therefore exhausting, to “separate the wheat from the chaff,” and acknowledge that those were also important years for pop-rock music.
P.S. But did you already know the album in question?

Black Mountain Black Mountain

17 mar 05

Voto:

I'm hurrying to get it. The samples are enticing, but I would have trusted it anyway. So Canada confirms.

XTC Skylarking

17 mar 05

Voto:

"Oranges & Lemons" was one of the very first CDs I ever bought, in an era when vinyl still held significant market shares. It's a successful work, although I consider it a step below the ones I've mentioned. Talking about hits for XTC hits a sore spot: commercial success has rarely smiled upon them, with perhaps the relative exception of the double "Oranges & Lemons."