Remember how we were going to review this album and then you decided that what you really wanted to do was quit doing anything and started going to raves and demanding E from all the other librarians? Remember that?
Well, that's basically the only way for me to figure out why Screamadelica is such a seminal album (according to Allmusic and others). I think you have to be at raves and high on Ecstasy to really "get it" (and probably have to be from Manchester, too, which is so horribly depressing that dancing in a warehouse is actually a huge step above actual life.) Not being an E doer, nor a raver, I decided to do something that would be somewhat similar. I ate a lot of sugar and turned on the visualizer on iTunes. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
"It's full of stars!"
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Building a collection like you would build a basketball team
I was having an inner tussle the other day when I was pondering if I was a tool for still sticking with U2, REM, and Radiohead. The adventerous thing to do would be to ditch those bands for something newer and edgier. Say, "Hey, I think the four cornerstones of my collection are Animal Collective, Arcade Fire, No Age, and Bat for Lashes." But, I couldn't allow myself. Quality is quality no matter how popular, right? So, I shouldn't be ashamed. But how can I justify it?
The Lakers help me justify it. How? Well, not from the fan perspective. From the general manager perspective. If you are going to build a championship team, you need unequivocal superstars on the team. Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, people like that. If you don't have those players, you aren't going to win. Simple as that. Look at the roster of teams before the season starts and you can just cross some of them off the list from the get go, because they don't have that star power. As a fan, it's cool to root for the nondescript guys playing together as a team. But you don't win championships with only nondescript guys. You might make the playoffs, but you won't win. no matter how distasteful it might seem on the outside, you need the superstar. Once you have the two or three superstars, you can bring on the role players. You can have tons of role players! As many and as weird as you want because their inconsistencies will be overshadowed by the superstars.
Whenever I think, "Sheesh, things are getting a little weird for me" I throw the ball into my superstars. I play the Bends, I play Achtung, I play Green. Reset the offense. Without the superstars, the team drifts, you rely on the draft (new bands/albums) and you're stuck in rebuilding mode. (Of course, you could be like the Knicks under Isiah Thomas, bringing in a bunch of pseudo-superstars and rotting the team with them. You know, like the Black Eye Peas or something...)
And that's how I justify saying, "Yes, my favorite bands are U2, REM, and Radiohead."
The Lakers help me justify it. How? Well, not from the fan perspective. From the general manager perspective. If you are going to build a championship team, you need unequivocal superstars on the team. Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, people like that. If you don't have those players, you aren't going to win. Simple as that. Look at the roster of teams before the season starts and you can just cross some of them off the list from the get go, because they don't have that star power. As a fan, it's cool to root for the nondescript guys playing together as a team. But you don't win championships with only nondescript guys. You might make the playoffs, but you won't win. no matter how distasteful it might seem on the outside, you need the superstar. Once you have the two or three superstars, you can bring on the role players. You can have tons of role players! As many and as weird as you want because their inconsistencies will be overshadowed by the superstars.
Whenever I think, "Sheesh, things are getting a little weird for me" I throw the ball into my superstars. I play the Bends, I play Achtung, I play Green. Reset the offense. Without the superstars, the team drifts, you rely on the draft (new bands/albums) and you're stuck in rebuilding mode. (Of course, you could be like the Knicks under Isiah Thomas, bringing in a bunch of pseudo-superstars and rotting the team with them. You know, like the Black Eye Peas or something...)
And that's how I justify saying, "Yes, my favorite bands are U2, REM, and Radiohead."
Oxford Collapse collapses
Too bad really. That album that we reviewed gets better and better with each spin. (Yes, I still say "spin" even though it doesn't actually spin on a turntable or a CD player.) Thoughts on the Collapse?
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