Larrok

Personally, if I attend a concert by an excellent band that plays its own songs with a genre that's quite original and interesting, maybe even alternative, and in the end I hear people in the audience asking for a piece by the Stones or Vasco or Ligabue, I would tell those people to get lost in two seconds. Also because, as a musician, I would feel offended... I try to express what I have inside, giving my best, and I get a half-hearted applause, then in the end they ask me like a juke-box to play the usual worn-out hits... come on! Please!

Parcondio, I instead have a different reasoning. If I give a rating to an album, for example from 1 to 10 (or from 1 to 5), my value scale will rely on constant personal parameters that I use for every album, regardless of the genre, the context, and the historical period of the work in question. This is simply because I would find it dishonest to rate 6.5 or 7 an excellent album just because there are indeed better works within its genre, and then perhaps give 8 to another album that is clearly inferior to the first but is one of the most valid within its genre. I mean, if an album is excellent within its genre but mediocre overall, I feel compelled to evaluate it in absolute terms since I am the listener, and for my ears, I want the best. Specifically, I can perfectly evaluate Dinosaur Jr. using the same criteria as an artist completely unrelated, for example Frank Zappa, because my assessment is based on artistic quality and communicative ability, which I believe transcends epochs and genres.

Crazy! We've come to the point of saying that if you don't do covers, you're conceited! But guys, do you have any idea what art and expressiveness are? If a band has great ideas, well blended, with a fairly personal style, I don't see why they should be forced to do a tribute to be appreciated. And okay, I agree that covers can serve as a stepping stone, but bands like Mr. Pig have been playing the same songs for years... THE SAME ONES! And there are hundreds of tribute bands doing the same repertoire for decades, always covering the same well-known groups: Guns, Queen, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin, RHCP, etc... we've reached a peak. The masses love to play it safe, and they get what they want because covers fill venues, and that's enough for the owners. The only ones who can change something in this mechanism are the spectators, but then it becomes clear that almost no one cares a fig about hearing original music. How sad...

Chinaski, not even Mission of Burma can be compared to Dinosaur Jr. for that matter... and anyway, I prefer the dinosaurs 1000 times.

Parcondio, it is evident that you are not familiar with the basic rules of dialectics... if someone speaks, it means that this is their opinion and by definition it is not a fact, it is their perspective of reality. Criticizing a discourse by saying "but that's just your opinion" is a pointless triviality. If the subject then tries to objectify their opinion by arguing, they should only be applauded, and one can at most take a position on the merits, but it makes no sense to criticize on the basis of "your opinion is not a fact" because that is taken for granted. Usually, when facing two opposing opinions on the subject of music, no one claims to be the Word; rather, there is a more useful argumentative exchange.

Being from the province of Reggio Emilia, I’ve seen them live several times. They are monsters of technique but incapable of expressing anything more than an ice pop. Maybe for those who are obsessed with solos or who get excited by seeing hyper-complex time signatures, they are a nice spectacle of entertainment. The serious thing is that they are all masters of their respective instruments and teach the kids who take lessons from them this absolutely self-serving approach. They conceive music as a sport… the more you train, the better you are… the covers they play have been the same for years: Dream Theater, Mr. Big, Welcome to the Jungle, Burn, Highway to Hell, Enter Sandman, etc. Don’t get me wrong, Luppi is nice and has an incredible voice… but they are four circus entertainers, not musicians.

"He's a splendid fifty-year-old" but are you kidding?? He's totally falling apart!

It's pointless to argue with these gentlemen, Lux. They'll inevitably end up hiding behind personal tastes or accusing you of arrogance when they have no arguments to counter or simply when they disagree with your opinions. I’ll only say one thing: if on Debaser the comments were all "everyone has their tastes," "let's not judge others' ideas," "let's love each other," a bit like the opposition of the Democratic Party, it would be a really boring site. Fortunately, it isn't, and there are still people who have dialectical exchanges that enrich the reader.

Coolermaster, please stop saying stratospheric nonsense... if there’s one gigantic artist in the history of rock, it’s Robert Wyatt. Rock Bottom is a work that shouldn’t be listened to with the mindset of “what a drag, I’m bored,” but of introspection (I definitely prefer Wyatt to John Martyn). Art is not always entertainment; in fact, it often requires intellectual effort to enjoy its fruits. You say you don’t want to be bored, then you mention Pink Moon, which is much more static despite its beauty. The albums you’ve named as seminal seem like a summary from Onda Rock: Police, Queen, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan... what a selection!

The umpteenth songwriter trying to imitate Battisti and, as someone aptly put it, Samuele Bersani... listening to this album reveals two things: banal lyrics reminiscent of an elementary school kid trying to write a poem and a glossy production typical of a reassuring Italian Sanremo music product... "Vita Tranquilla" has a part plagiarized from "Wild World" by Cat Stevens, truly dreadful songs, at least from my point of view... giving Giglio 5 stars is, in my opinion, an inconceivable nonsense. Anyway, I respect those who love it even if I don't understand the reasons.