Posts by thewatcher

  • The Thread Of Complete Randomness

    It was very, very stormy this morning. I woke up extra early to get the first train to work as I thought there might be delays. The train service where I live is very fragile, for lack of a better word. If it's misty the damn thing is half an hour late.


    I stood there in the darkness, a little after 5am watching the trees bending wildly in these howling gales thinking, "there's not a snowball's chance in hell this train is gonna run", but also thinking that even if there are delays, I have enough buffer that it'll be ok.


    I could not believe my eyes when I saw the bright headlines of a train, around a minute late, cutting through the driving rain and plowing it's way nobly through the raging storm. "No fucking way" I thought. Gobsmacked.


    On I got and it pulled away and made steady, swift progress towards my place of employ until ten minutes into the thirty minute long journey it smashed straight into a sizable tree and lost all power. We sat in darkness for two and a half hours before they finally gave up and let us out into the storm to walk along the track, over mounds of rubble, to the next station. I'm now standing in the shivering cold, soaked, 3 hours after setting out, waiting for another train to complete the journey.


    Mother. Fucking. M. B. T. Fucking. A.

  • Will Roger Waters ever shut up?

    It's an interesting thought experiment; what would Pink Floyd songs be like if a powerhouse drummer was behind the band? I'm not sure to be honest, but I suspect they'd be worse off. I do think Mason's style contributed to the band's sound, in allowing the songs to breathe. For example, I don't think Shine on You Crazy Diamond needs more drums or aggressive drums, I think there's a skill in not hitting a drum at the right moment if that makes sense. Conversely he could drive them when needed, like on One Of These Days or Dogs. He had that long solo contribution to Ummagumma too if anyone wants to hear what Nick Mason drumming at what I suspect was the limits of his ability sounds like.


    Sure, they could have had a "better" drummer but I think it would have been a different band then.

  • Will Roger Waters ever shut up?

    While that is quite the rant, I actually agree with most of it. I think the Gilmour/Wright axis was more the essence of Pink Floyd than Waters. The Final Cut is pure Waters and I can't abide it, I find it quite thin and colorless, like his solo albums. And even though Animals has 4/5 songs written only by Waters, the contribution of the other band members to the sound is quite clear and it's one of my favorites along with Wish You Were Here.


    Now, I'm not saying they could have made those albums without him. He was probably the most important writer from WYWH on. But without the other members to create the albums, they would have sounded terrible.

  • Your Favorite Band Outside of Genesis

    Discovered this thread recommended at the bottom of the Kate bush thread and figured I'd revive it despite the message saying 'create a new thread'. As this fits the bill perfectly!


    Favorite two bands outside of Genesis is easy; Smashing Pumpkins and Suede. But ask me to pick one favorite out of the three? Never. Gun to my head, I'd do Suede for Dog Man Star/Sci Fi Lullabies.


    Have gone through phases of obsession with many, many other artists. The earlier commentary about lack of female artists among our favorites caught my eye. A lot of my favorite bands are male, but i feel drawn to strong female vocalists. Hence I made a separate list of female musicians I like, and it's longer than the non-female list.


    Pink Floyd

    The Cure

    Nine Inch Nails

    Placebo

    Foals

    Chevelle

    Moby

    Citizen Cope

    Whipping Boy

    Royksopp

    Muse

    Pixies/Frank Black

    Rammstein

    OutKast

    Snoop Dogg

    Meat Loaf

    Warren Zevon

    REM

    David Bowie

    Edit: Mike Oldfield

    Edit: Dire Straits


    Female artists (I prefer many of these to the above ones):


    The Cardigans

    Brodie Dalle

    Robyn

    Austra

    The Pierces

    Ladyhawke

    Anya Marina

    Sharon Van Etten

    2.54

    Beach House

    Meg Myers

    Stef Chura

    Lana Del Rey

    La Roux

    Garbage

    Hole/Courtney Love

    Lily Wood and the Prick

    Lykke Li

    Lissie

    Phildel

    Grimes

    Etana

    Basia Bulat

    Agnes Obel

    Edit: Charlotte Gainesburg

    Edit: Cheryl Cole (and Girls Aloud including the tragically recently deceased Sarah Harding)


    There are dozens of others, I just love music.

  • I love Kate Bush!

    Quote from thewatcher

    Also not a fan of Kanye's! Though I used him as a convenience in another thread as someone else had already brought him up in that thread.


    I have a vague memory of listening to an album of his about 15 years ago, but it's possible it's another artist I'm thinking of. Whatever album it was, it had a couple of interesting dark EDM type songs but clearly it wasn't enough to suck me in.

    I found it! It was a Kanye album, 808s and Heartbreak. I had a quick listen and there's one track on it I remember from before, Welcome to Heartbreak that had the dark atmosphere I was talking about. However, most of the tracks have the vocals all vocodorized or whatever you call it and it's pretty awful.


    On topic, I still haven't explored Kate Bush's catalogue as much as I'd want, but I love the Meg Myers cover of Running up the Hill I posted above. Placebo who I also like, also did one but it wasn't as good.

  • I love Kate Bush!

    Quote from Noni

    Sorry mate, it was thewatcher reply :(

    Also not a fan of Kanye's! Though I used him as a convenience in another thread as someone else had already brought him up in that thread.


    I have a vague memory of listening to an album of his about 15 years ago, but it's possible it's another artist I'm thinking of. Whatever album it was, it had a couple of interesting dark EDM type songs but clearly it wasn't enough to suck me in.

  • Last 4 UK shows postponed due to positive covid tests within band

    Just thinking this evening... If Phil didn't get it and four others did... Is he going to be thinking "man, I dodged a bullet there"? Should we be thinking that? I want to see them so badly, and I'm confident the show will go on, but maybe putting a 70 year old diabetic in front of thousands of cheering/singing/shouting fans just isn't a brilliant idea.

  • RIP Thread!!

    Colin Powell has died of COVID.


    Haven't heard or thought of him for a good while but still felt a bit shocked to read the headline. He had one or two major stains on his legacy but all round seemed to be one of the good guys, resigning when it was revealed that Saddam didn't have wmd and lamenting his speech to the UN. I hated that administration he was part of but he seemed to disavow it and distance himself from it, particularly by endorsing the Democratic candidates in subsequent presidential elections.

  • PHIL COLLINS: Genesis won’t exist beyond 2021

    Quote from Art Vandaley

    I’m 100% with Foxfeeder. I’m a music snob and honest about it. I detest mainstream hip hop, rap, snd modern pop. Cookie cutting, auto tuned tripe.

    I don't think strongly liking one type of music or detesting another type makes you a snob though. Those are just your preferences. How does detesting hip hip make you a snob? I think - but am open to correction here - that believing that your musical preferences mark you out as somehow superior to other people would make you a snob. This would be a point of view I could never understand.


    Loving music passionately, hating other music with a passion? Sure. Same deal with paintings, movies and books, all art is supposed to evoke some sort of emotional response. It's a glorious thing really, and there such an abundance of all art forms out there you'll find plenty to love and hate. But no one's preferences make them better than anyone else, so I believe.


    Sorry, bit of a long winded OT detour. Also, in the middle of typing it, I inadvertently hit a wrong combination of keys that yielded this result, hahaha:


    :-((*_*)


    It looks to me like an emoji for "who slipped this fatal toxin into my drink?"