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Topic: 4th Round Mod: Spirit of Eden v. Shaming of thePosted By: micky
Subject: 4th Round Mod: Spirit of Eden v. Shaming of the
Date Posted: August 29 2015 at 09:07
Last one of the 4th round!
Last up... a battle of two greats! In previous rounds we did song samples, great PA's reviews, with this
round I wanted to do something a different. So I went outside PA's..
what do people outside of this site say about these albums.
Spirit of Eden by Talk Talk
Gorgeous and timeless Mark Hollis, like David Sylvian of Japan, Bjork of The Sugarcubes and
David Byrne of the Talking Heads, always seemed to be peeking over the
horizon and onto the next thing even while his band was appearing on
'Top of the Pops' or pandering to record label execs.
SPIRIT OF
EDEN is that moment when he finally realized that walking away from the
safety of the pop charts was far more satisfying than making an album
full of compromises.
SPIRIT OF EDEN isn't really a pop record or
a new wave record or a jazz record. It defies classification and yet
captures the heart of many pop, new wave and jazz fans alike. That is
because this is a collection of timeless music made all the more
memorable by Mark Hollis' frail and delicate musings on life, love and
the heartbreak of heroin.
There aren't synthesizer hooks or an
overkill of fretless bass as on previous Talk Talk efforts.. instead
you'll find passionately played harmonica and carefully orchestrated
horns and strings. This isn't your typical orchestral syrup poured over
pop tunes masquerading as art. These are gorgeous freeform songs played
with love and passion and held together by the thrill of hearing a band
performing at its creative peak.
I don't want to explain what
each of the six songs do for me personally because I think discovering
that for oneself is the real gift of SPIRIT OF EDEN. My only wish in
writing is that someone, somewhere, will read this and seek out a copy
for themselves. It has been two months now and I haven't taken it out of
my CD player.
I lied, I have another wish. That Mark Hollis
will read enough of these and be forced to consider making more music.
True, LAUGHING STOCK and MARK HOLLIS solo are wonderful too. It's hard
to imagine, however, what lovely music Hollis lives with in his mind
that might not see the light of day.
I don't expect that I'll be
without SPIRIT OF EDEN anytime soon. It has become a part of my nightly
ritual. Headphones on. Lights out. And the story begins...
The Shaming Of The True by Kevin Gilbert
As others have said, this album is
a masterpiece. Sadly, like many great artists before him, Kevin
Gilbert wasn't as fully appreciated as he should have been in his
lifetime, but that frustration led him to his greatest creative heights.
The way I see it, Gilbert's music was like the musical equivalent of
the current Ford Mustang, seamlessly combining early 70s retro and
modern styles and everything in between into a timeless whole greater
than the sum of the parts. Unfortunately, unlike the wildly popular
Mustang, Gilbert's music had difficulty finding a market, and for that I
blame the narrow-mindedness of the record company and radio station
executives. If it doesn't fit a predetermined radio-friendly format,
they don't market it. Kevin Gilbert understood this all too well, and
rather than compromise his vision, he chose to channel his anger and
frustration into this brilliant rock opera. Ostensibly the story of a
fictitious rock star named Johnny Virgil, I'm sure much of it was based
on his own experiences. What really boggles my mind about it is that it
wasn't completed at the time of his death, but thanks to the efforts of
his collaborators Nick D'Virgilio. John Cuniberti, and others, it
sounds every bit as polished as the other great rock operas, "Tommy",
"Jesus Christ Superstar", "The Wall", and "Scenes From a Memory", and
even more heartfelt. Stylistically, it runs the gamut from soft
acoustic guitar ballads to angry metal riffs, with a lovely piano ballad
and a baroque fugue thrown in for good measure. "Suit Fugue (Dance of
the A&R Men)" is one of the standout tracks, a satirical hodgepodge
of A&R clichés elaborately set to overlapping counterpoint to create
the head-spinning feeling of an artist being courted by several record
companies at once. "Certifiable #1 Smash" is even more bitingly
satirical, and so it goes, tracing Johnny's path from obscurity to fame
and back, skewering every target that deserves it along the way. I
agree with those who say this disc deserves to be on a "desert island"
list. It's immediately impressive and continues to get better with
repeated listenings.
------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
Replies: Posted By: zravkapt
Date Posted: August 29 2015 at 09:16
I like the last two TT albums but don't love them; I 'get' them but never really enjoyed them. I much prefer the TT offshoot .O.Rang to anything TT did. Gilbert is hit or miss with me...mostly miss.
------------- Magma America Great Make Again
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: August 29 2015 at 09:26
proud to see Gilbert make it this far, as one of my few individual suggestions to the modern tournament not suggested by anyone else.
That said, supported it this far, but no further. Spirit of Eden is one of my top 3 modern albums. Brilliant and so touching to the heart and soul.
------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
Posted By: Nogbad_The_Bad
Date Posted: August 29 2015 at 10:45
Gilberts effort does nothing for me
------------- Ian
Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on Progrock.com
Posted By: LearsFool
Date Posted: August 29 2015 at 11:27
Eden
-------------
Posted By: The Bearded Bard
Date Posted: August 30 2015 at 07:40
Easily Spirit of Eden for me as well.
zravkapt wrote:
I much prefer the TT offshoot .O.Rang to anything TT did.
Never herd of (pun intented) .O.Rang before. Better than TT you say? Sounds like something I need to investigate.
-------------
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: August 30 2015 at 07:45
The Bearded Bard wrote:
Easily Spirit of Eden for me as well.
zravkapt wrote:
I much prefer the TT offshoot .O.Rang to anything TT did.
Never herd of (pun intented) .O.Rang before. Better than TT you say? Sounds like something I need to investigate.
I don't think I have either... I moved on to the Holis solo work and loved it. Definitely needed to check this out!
------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
Posted By: zravkapt
Date Posted: August 30 2015 at 11:56
------------- Magma America Great Make Again
Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: August 30 2015 at 12:03
The Shaming Of The True
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: August 30 2015 at 13:08
zravkapt wrote:
cool! Thanks!
------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: August 30 2015 at 13:21
well this goes on the emergency must buy.. must have list... have some clappies Daryl. Thanks!
------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
Posted By: Guldbamsen
Date Posted: August 30 2015 at 13:22
Skillet of Semen
------------- “The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”
- Douglas Adams
Posted By: Man With Hat
Date Posted: August 31 2015 at 21:52
What a poor matchup.
Thankfully my vote will be irrelevant , so I'll pass.
------------- Dig me...But don't...Bury me I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect.
Posted By: Moogtron III
Date Posted: September 01 2015 at 01:56
First time I vote for Talk Talk in this tournament.
Posted By: Komandant Shamal
Date Posted: September 01 2015 at 08:26
i voted for "Spirit of Eden".
Posted By: chopper
Date Posted: September 01 2015 at 09:17
No contest - Talk Talk.
Posted By: Prog Sothoth
Date Posted: September 01 2015 at 11:36
10 years ago I would have probably voted for The Human League over Talk Talk, but thanks to PA I've discovered how good this band actually was.
Honestly, I'm kinda tired of rock story-songs about a boy musician named Johnny even if they are great, so Talk Talk it is.
Posted By: symphonicman
Date Posted: September 07 2015 at 15:46
Kevin Gilbert, The Shaming of the True.
------------- Master James of St. George. Of the fields and the sky. He used to build castles of stone, steel, and blood. But lines get broken down.
Posted By: Raff
Date Posted: September 12 2015 at 06:56
The beautiful Spirit of Eden.
Posted By: The Bearded Bard
Date Posted: September 12 2015 at 08:25
micky wrote:
well this goes on the emergency must buy.. must have list... have some clappies Daryl. Thanks!
Yeah, thanks for the vids, Darryl! Enjoyed both tracks. Will definitely try to get my hands on their albums at some point.
-------------
Posted By: progrockdeepcuts
Date Posted: September 12 2015 at 09:06
Talk Talk is amazing. Don't know Shaming yet.
-------------
Listen to older shows here: mixcloud.com/progrockdeepcuts/
Posted By: Nogbad_The_Bad
Date Posted: September 12 2015 at 09:08
I wouldn't bother
------------- Ian
Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on Progrock.com