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Post subject: Re: Which Album Has the Best Production?
Posted: Sun July 26, 2015 11:24 pm
tl;dr
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 6:06 pm Posts: 8593
I think Nirvana had quite a few songs with sexual content, if nothing overtly sexy. Soundgarden's handling of the subject was pretty farcical -- songs like "Big Dumb Sex" and a few over-the-top covers like "Fopp" and "Touch Me." I can't think of any AIC songs that address sexuality in any way.
Grunge music was basically a paean to romantic inactivity. It's no wonder I identified with it so closely as a teen.
Post subject: Re: Which Album Has the Best Production?
Posted: Mon July 27, 2015 1:48 am
Production Police
Joined: Tue September 24, 2013 5:56 pm Posts: 47219 Location: In the oatmeal aisle wearing a Shellac shirt
BurtReynolds wrote:
It was to be the first installment in an in depth analysis of sexual innuendo in Pearl Jam's Music, but SOMEONE decided that was innappropriate.
Anyway, of the Big Four grunge bands, I'm having trouble coming up with a ranking. Nirvana had Rape Me- that's gotta count for something, but AiC seemed preoccupied with singing about how much heroin sucks. Surely Soundgarden has a few sex songs.
Soundgarden has "Big Dumb Sex," in which Cornell sings:
"Hey aiye-ai-aiye-ai-aiye know what do to / I'm gonna fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck you, fuck you"
Post subject: Re: Which Album Has the Best Production?
Posted: Wed July 29, 2015 5:11 am
Banned from the Pit
Joined: Tue July 16, 2013 10:01 pm Posts: 49
Seriously, No Code hands down!
The sweetness of the acoustic in Off He Goes... The crunch of the electric guitars in Hail, Hail... The boom of Jeff's bass in Sometimes... The ending of Habit... The melody/harmonies in Who You Are... And Present Tense...
Toss up between No Code and Yield but I vote Yield if only for the bridge on Faithfull. It also helps that they were playing so god damn well at this point (see: Single Video Theory).
I'm struggling (like everyone else) to comprehend how BO'B produced their heights and also their nadir in production with Lightning Bolt. I am left with the idea that we need to start giving Pearl Jam much more credit for their sound. In turn, you'd have to give them more blame for recent output.
Post subject: Re: Which Album Has the Best Production?
Posted: Wed July 29, 2015 12:56 pm
AnalLog
Joined: Mon January 07, 2013 5:30 pm Posts: 1593
Blame both. Brendan's been there for both extremes of their career as you point out, so some credit has to be given to the band for churning out weaker compositions, sure. At the same time, though, Brendan has also taken a larger role in shaping the direction of the band's work by suggesting that they focus on completing certain song ideas while leaving others on the floor, as well as directing and contributing to the arrangements.
Post subject: Re: Which Album Has the Best Production?
Posted: Wed July 29, 2015 3:01 pm
NEVER STOP JAMMING!
Joined: Wed January 02, 2013 1:56 am Posts: 21861
Some of it probably comes from everybody being older, with older ears that have frequency loss.
Some of it probably comes down to the post-Riot Act push for relevancy. They're clearly favoring having an impactful and immediate cheap (or car) speaker 'first listen' over having a rich, engaging record that reveals more of itself over time and begs for headphones.
Some of it may just be down to whoever is mastering. Backspacer has a decent production to it...nice enough separation where it's needed without sacrificing the unique color or muscle of each instrument, and some truly syrupy tones. I don't believe for a moment that LB ever had that, but maybe the mastering on this one highlighted some weaknesses.
Some of it is down to chosen tone. Does the bass sound good through a lot of this record? Fuck yeah. Because the bass tone isn't absolute trash like the guitars are in a lot of tracks.
Some of it probably results from the "put Ed front and center, and pull everything else back" logic, which has become a truly tragic thing for a producer to do. As Ed's voice ages from hovering like big sky to hanging desperately, like some jackoff archeologist who doesn't even know that in Latin Jehovah begins with a goddamn 'i,' the frequencies that need to be dedicated to making him sound good have changed. Pulling those frequencies from, say, an acoustic guitar to make the singer sound less like shit will definitely have an affect.
Some of it is probably Springsteen's fault. Bruce has very intense opinions about the sound of his records, which are usually summarized as "terrible" thanks to what I have to believe is the result of very early career hearing damage. You can hear how working with him changed Brendan by listening to The Rising, where Brendan had almost total control of the sound, and Magic, where Bruce was heavily involved. And, like Pearl Jam, Brendan seems to totally love Bruce and be incapable of differentiating his worst tendencies from his best.
Some of it just comes down to, when you have a band who are willful fucking idiots (or at least a bossy frontman who is) about the simplest aspects of the process by which their music is captured, then of course there's an increased risk of dumb dumb choices that could be detrimental to the final product.
Post subject: Re: Which Album Has the Best Production?
Posted: Wed July 29, 2015 3:35 pm
Production Police
Joined: Tue September 24, 2013 5:56 pm Posts: 47219 Location: In the oatmeal aisle wearing a Shellac shirt
McParadigm wrote:
Some of it probably comes from everybody being older, with older ears that have frequency loss.
Some of it probably comes down to the post-Riot Act push for relevancy. They're clearly favoring having an impactful and immediate cheap (or car) speaker 'first listen' over having a rich, engaging record that reveals more of itself over time and begs for headphones.
Some of it may just be down to whoever is mastering. Backspacer has a decent production to it...nice enough separation where it's needed without sacrificing the unique color or muscle of each instrument, and some truly syrupy tones. I don't believe for a moment that LB ever had that, but maybe the mastering on this one highlighted some weaknesses.
Some of it is down to chosen tone. Does the bass sound good through a lot of this record? Fuck yeah. Because the bass tone isn't absolute trash like the guitars are in a lot of tracks.
Some of it probably results from the "put Ed front and center, and pull everything else back" logic, which has become a truly tragic thing for a producer to do. As Ed's voice ages from hovering like big sky to hanging desperately, like some jackoff archeologist who doesn't even know that in Latin Jehovah begins with a goddamn 'i,' the frequencies that need to be dedicated to making him sound good have changed. Pulling those frequencies from, say, an acoustic guitar to make the singer sound less like shit will definitely have an affect.
Some of it is probably Springsteen's fault. Bruce has very intense opinions about the sound of his records, which are usually summarized as "terrible" thanks to what I have to believe is the result of very early career hearing damage. You can hear how working with him changed Brendan by listening to The Rising, where Brendan had almost total control of the sound, and Magic, where Bruce was heavily involved. And, like Pearl Jam, Brendan seems to totally love Bruce and be incapable of differentiating his worst tendencies from his best.
Some of it just comes down to, when you have a band who are willful fucking idiots (or at least a bossy frontman who is) about the simplest aspects of the process by which their music is captured, then of course there's an increased risk of dumb dumb choices that could be detrimental to the final product.
Amen to all of this, and I would also add that a lot of successful musicians wind up creating in an aural vacuum. Their tracks feel fresh because they just cut them, and a lot of middling music sounds amazing when it's cranked through a pair of Oceanways (incredibly huge, detailed pro speakers). A track like Lightning Bolt is very impressive when played in that sort of environment, but doesn't hold up to repeat listenings on consumer-level audio gear.
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