I bought the guided by voices greatest hits album, human amusements at hourly rates normally when i bring a new album into itunes at least if its one that i really havent heard before i set the rating for every song to three stars out of five and then play it straight through usually as i work on something else read or write i try to keep three stars the median and the average rating across my library of howevermanythousand songs i have now but too many more albums like this are really going to screw that up after i made it through the thirtytwo songs most of which i knew by heart anyway even though id never heard a lot of the specific takes and version how many versions of a song does robert pollard do anyway hes got to have 800 songs so imagine that time two or three versions each which i think may be lowballing it and wow thats way out beyond prince territory isnt it and saw that i had rated every song at four or five stars and to be honest towards the end i raised my standards a bit because it feels too easy to give out that many perfect scores well actually maybe i will go back and give another star to teenage fbi anyway what am i worrying about this couldnt possibly balance all those red krayola and high llamas albums that are just strings of onestars zero means i havent rated it regarding the krayola which i may like just cause the guys name is mayo how cool is that ive been trying to find some of their midcareer albums post thank god and parable of arable land but before their megaflops of the nineties which im told are just entirely unlistenable see eg that wicked review on pitchfork from a year or two ago really most of their early stuff is unlistenable too but at least that means theyre consistent anyway a few of the tracks off of godbless are so ragged but determined that theyre just the best outsider music ever like what people say the shaggs are but without the conceit in that post because the krayola knew what they were up to but they couldnt play their instruments which led to some pretty interested rhythmic innovations that other musicians are still trying to pick up eg the dopey drumming on sheriff jack is actually nearly impossible to duplicate im not sure if that was deliberate or what it sounds on first listen like their is a constant rhythm but thats an illusion the drummer keep sane while stretching the beat and doublehitting but its all so lazy and easy that you would never know until you try to play it yourself and realize that well its actually pretty hard to do similarly the drums and the bass in the jewels of madonna have no consistency whatsoever except for a vaguely menacing growl which combined with mayos slurred exhortations gives the song a powerful delirious edge it really something and i have to wonder if it was deliberate and does it even matter anyway for whatever reason red krayola albums are a bit hard to find from what i understand most after parable and god bless werent even released in the us until the band signed to drag city in the nineties so thats twenty years of probably bad music that im going to have a hell of a time tracking down but itd be worth it for just one more sheriff jack or leejol which should be a joke but actually works pretty well theres a new wilco album out in two months according to i think boingboing most of the tracks can be had via the usual fileswapping services is it the final mix though because if they weent with another jimorourke buttonpusher production job than id just as soon wait for that rather than ruin the songs to my ears ill admit it i dont like wilco i like orourke and will be happy happy happy to buy an orourke album but i just dont have the patience for another more like the moon which was just boring i like mermaid avenue enough to be sure but that was a oneoff er twooff where is the next orourke album i dont know but i hear that sherlock holmes is on the case and the soiled glove on your hand gave him a clue give it to me and act as if nothing had happened what in the world can i do flowers bloomin in the garden footprints in the garden show him a way take this bag of spareribs what in the world can i do sherlock holmes sherlock holmes sherlock holmes sherlock holmes sherlock holmes sherlock holmes sherlock holmes sherlock holmes
ohmygodthatbass its not an accident