When they do the double dutch, that's them dancing

[vovat]

My data entry job gives me a good opportunity to listen to a lot of music. As of late, I've been making an effort to listen to some albums by musicians that I would put in the "some awesome songs, but not enough to qualify as Favorite Band material" category. Here are a few of them that I've given some play recently:

Fountains of Wayne: I think the first time I heard their music was several years ago, when themall made me a mix tape that had a lot of FoW stuff on it. I thought they were good, but they didn't blow me away or anything. I listened to Welcome Interstate Managers the other day, though, and it really does have a lot of great songs. Standouts for me were "Valley Winter Song," "Hey Julie," and "Hung Up On You." Their self-titled album is also pretty cool ("Survival Car," one of the songs on the aforementioned mix tape, might be my favorite song on there), but I've yet to hear Utopia Parkway or Out-of-State Plates.

Liz Phair: bethje has her first three albums. Out of those, whitechocolatespaceegg is my current favorite. It has more energy and general catchiness than the first two. I like the title track on Whip-Smart a lot, though. Exile in Guyville hasn't really clicked for me yet, although it might just require a few more listens. I know that's some people's favorite, but I have to wonder how much of that is due to the quality of the songs, and how much is "Whoa, listen to how casually that chick tosses off the F bombs!" {g} I really don't know whether her two most recent albums are any good. I do remember when I first heard "Why Can't I?" on the radio, I had no idea who it was, but I thought it was pretty good for, you know, a modern pop song that gets played on mainstream radio. When I learned it was Liz, I still liked it, but it got marked down a few points because I know she can do a lot better. I realize that's somewhat unfair, but hey. I find it kind of amusing that there's an edited version of her self-titled record. That means it has to be dirty enough that they'd bother editing it, but it also apparently means it actually makes sense without the explicit language (although I wouldn't necessarily count on that). I'm inclined to believe an edited version of Guyville would be a blank CD.

The Apples in Stereo: I got several of their albums from eMusic back when they had the Unlimited thing. There are a few songs of theirs that I love, but they also seem to have a fair amount of stuff that doesn't do much for me (which isn't to say it's bad, just not that interesting). I hadn't really listened to one of their albums all the way through in a long time, so I played Fun Trick Noisemaker and The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone yesterday. The latter sounds like it's actually a pretty good overall record. The former isn't as good, even though it does have the excellent "Glowworm."

Ben Folds: He doesn't really belong on this list, since I do consider myself a fan of his (both in the Five and solo, although it wasn't until after the Five broke up that I really started getting into the music), and I like his work in general, not just a couple songs. He's also sort of tied for second in terms of the musicians I've seen live the most times. It's just that, when I'm thinking of music to listen to, Ben rarely comes to mind. But then when I finally DO decide to listen to his stuff, I think, "Hey, this is really cool! Why don't I listen to this more often?"

There are some bands where I just have to listen to their music several times before it really clicks for me. There are others that I don't think will ever make it past the "a few cool songs" category, though. Two good examples for me are indie darlings Pavement and Guided By Voices, both of which have one song that I really like ("Shady Lane" and "Teenage FBI," respectively), but where nothing else I've heard comes anywhere close to the quality of that one song.

I sometimes see people mentioning songs that they always skip when listening to an album. I'll do that sometimes if I'm in a hurry to get to a particular song, and I'll often skip things that come up when I'm just listening to music randomly. But when I really want to listen to an album, I see that as including every song. I mean, if you decide you don't like a song and then keep skipping over it, it'll never have a chance to grow on you, right? Granted, some songs won't anyway, but I like to give them all a chance, you know?

Comments

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

My favorite thing about Fountains of Wayne is that they were the actual artists --ie, did the actual recording of the music-- for the Wonders in That Thing You Do! which is one of my absolute favorite movies. Well, maybe not quite as absolute favorite as LOTR and Almost Famous and even Star Wars, but pretty well up there. Maybe nearly as good as the Muppet Movie. Almost.

I still need to get myself some Apples in Stereo and Ben Folds (in any capacity) albums! I discovered them both about a year ago -- Ben Folds maybe even a couple years ago-- and became very enthusiastically excited, but never actually DID anything about aquiring their music. It's funny, I turned my sister on to Apples in Stereo and SHE went and found a bunch of their stuff, but I still haven't! Anyway, I've decided my first splurge-on-myself I'm going to do when I get a new job is make a trip to the used CD store. Not that I'm likely to find any Apples in Stereo there.

I always skip over "Revolution 9" when I listen to the White Album. I don't think any amount of listening will make it grow on me.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

It's funny, I turned my sister on to Apples in Stereo and SHE went and found a bunch of their stuff, but I still haven't!

It's weird when that kind of thing happens, isn't it? It's like the other person is stealing the band or something.

I've occasionally found surprising things in used CD stores. One of my coolest experiences in that respect was when I went to Clarion to read a paper at a conference. I stopped by the used CD store there, which just happened to have three albums I was interested in (the Young Fresh Fellows' It's Low Beat Time, Frank Black's self-titled album, and the Pixies' Doolittle). That kind of thing is a rarity, though.

I usually will listen to "Revolution 9" when I'm playing the white album, but I can understand skipping it. After all, it's really long, and not exactly a song anyway. My anti-skipping philosophy applies more to songs that don't really grab a person on their first few listens, so then they just give up on the song, which doesn't strike me as being entirely fair. But there are always going to be tracks that you know you'll never like, and I don't object so much to skipping those.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

Well, since I've got a new job, I might JUST be making a trip to the used CD store soon!

Yeah, what you mean about not giving up on a song-- like in the case of the White Album yet AGAIN, I used to think "Long Long Long" was too boring, but now I like it quite a lot. So go figure.

You Go On Ahead

[goldenmoonbear.livejournal.com]

Yes! I love whitechocolatespaceegg and never understand why it seems to be the least popular album of hers. It was the first one I ever heard and I though it was so awesome that I kept trying to get into all the other albums and being thoroughly disapointed with them.

Discovery of a World Inside the Moone is another of my all time favorites. I pretty much like all the others but none compare to that one.

And WIM is my favorite FOW, too.

Wow, I'm just agreeing with you left and right today! :-)

Re: You Go On Ahead

[countblastula.livejournal.com]

I second WCSE as being by far the best Liz Phair album.

Her two most recent albums probably have enough good songs to be combined into one good album but they're not really great for listening all the way through, as you mentioned.

Re: You Go On Ahead

[vovat.livejournal.com]

It was the first one I ever heard and I though it was so awesome that I kept trying to get into all the other albums and being thoroughly disapointed with them.

Probably the fact that it's the first one you heard has something to do with it. I guess I can see someone who loved Guyville being somewhat disappointed with WCSE, since it has kind of a different sound (a better one, to my mind, but not necessarily to everyone's). Incidentally, Whip-Smart was the first album of hers that I heard, but I found it kind of hit-or-miss (i.e., some songs that I immediately liked, and others that didn't really do anything for me).

Re: You Go On Ahead

[goldenmoonbear.livejournal.com]

>Probably the fact that it's the first one you heard has something to do with it

Maybe, but I think it's more that the songs are really interesting and catchy on that one. If I had heard one of the other albums first I doubt I would have bothered to try any of the rest. I probably like a couple of songs on each album, but on WCSE I really like the whole thing, all the way through.
To sum it up in a Goldilocks and The Three Bears kind of way, I guess I would say that the first two albums are too "raw" for my taste, while the last two are too bland. WCSE is just right! Yum. Perhaps I shall go listen to it right now!

Re: You Go On Ahead

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I think I know what you mean. It reminds me of how someone in the Gouge documentary on the Pixies said something about how people picking their favorite albums would choose the first two, because they're more "raw." I was thinking, "Hey, Bossanova is my favorite Pixies album! Since when does 'raw' mean 'good'?" (Okay, I wasn't actually thinking those exact words, but it was something along those lines. {g}) But then, I'd heard Teenager of the Year before listening to any Pixies albums, so I guess I was more used to Frank Black as guy who sang about UFO's than as the guy who screamed about incest. {g}

[travspence.livejournal.com]

I listened to Welcome Interstate Managers the other day, though, and it really does have a lot of great songs.

I never gave that album a chance. Despite raves from several people I know, I hated that damn "Stacy's Mom" song so much I refused to listen to any of the other songs. :-)

Hated it. So much. It was hot, heat, flames...on the sides...

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I have nothing against "Stacy's Mom," but it's not my favorite song of theirs by any means. I did think it was really weird that FoW seemed to be pretty well-known among the Internet community for some time before that song came out, and then suddenly they had a mainstream hit, and the industry was acting like they'd just come out of nowhere. I mean, they were nominated for a "best new artist" Grammy for their third album! Tell me that's not ridiculous. Of course, a similar thing happened with Liz, whom MTV was touting as an "emerging artist" with her FOURTH album.

[revme.livejournal.com]

With FoW, I like them, but in small doses. Like, with Welcome Interstate Managers, I tended to like just about every song on there, but I never listen to the record because it's so long and tiresome for me. Like, I would have liked it a lot more if they split it off into two LPs, each about 35 minutes long, give or take. (Well, they'd have to throw in some other tracks, too, but still.)

With Liz Phair, I think the only differerence (off the top of my head) between the Edited one and the Non-Edited One is the non-inclusion of "H.W.C." (a/k/a "Hot White Cum") on the former. I'm drawing a blank on any real other language issues on that S/T album. Which I actually like, but not as much as her other ones. Her new one is really, really good, though, despite the lukewarm-at-best reviews.

And, I tend to think there is a bit of that with Guyville, but I also really like basically all the songs on it, too. But I think that's always been part of her allure ("She's hot! And she sings catchy songs... about FUCKING!")

[revme.livejournal.com]

(erh, forgot to finish that sentence)

been part of her allure, at least in the popular media/casual fans.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I think you'd said that before about WIM, and while I don't mind the length, I can see what you're saying. I also thought that, while most of the songs were really good, there wasn't that much cohesion to the whole thing.

But I think that's always been part of her allure ("She's hot! And she sings catchy songs... about FUCKING!")

Definitely, but I think it's more blatant on Guyville.

[k1cup.livejournal.com]

Utopia Parkway is also excellent. Basically, FoW get more poppy with each album. WiM is still my favorite in that the only song I don't really like is "All Kinds of Time". I agree about "Hung Up on You" . Chris Collingwood's voice in the studio is quite nice.

[zimbra1006.livejournal.com]

Fountains of Wayne are probably my second-favorite band, assuming TMBG still have the top spot. (I don't really think about these things too hard, but I do definitely listen to more FOW than TMBG these days. I like Welcome Interstate Managers a lot, but their self-titled is probably my favorite. I love the 'sound' of Utopia Parkway, but it's probably my least favorite song collection (still damn good though). And you should check out Out Of State Plates. They're one of the few bands whose b-sides are often even better than their album material.

Guided By Voices are actually one of my top 5 bands too. Teenage FBI was the first song of theirs that truly grabbed me though. They are quite hit-or-miss for the most part, but they are so prolific they have almost as many great songs as a regular band would, IMHO. :) Drag Days, I Am A Scientist, Underwater Explosions, The Best Of Jill Hives, and Game of Pricks are just a few of my favorites. Under the Bushes Under The Stars and Do The Collapse are their two most accessible albums, I think. But I can see how they wouldn't be for everybody.

Ben Folds I just love. Sometimes I forget about him too, and then go through a huge listening spurt.

And I totally agree about Apples In Stereo. They are overally pleasant to the ears (I especially like Fun Trick Noisemaker), but I just can't get all that into them. Very few specific songs will actually grab me.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

TMBG and XTC are pretty much cemented into my top two Favorite Band spots, even when I don't listen to them that much. I'd actually say my Top Five is pretty constant (Frank Black/Pixies in third, Young Fresh Fellows/Minus 5 in fourth, Camper Van Beethoven/Cracker in fifth), although it varies beyond that.

[jenhime.livejournal.com]

I'm a big fan of The Apples in Stereo -- Especially "Let's Go" and "The Bird that you Can't See." I saw them live when they visited my college waybackwhen in (I think) 1995 and that's what sealed it. Now, I'm in the mood to listen to them. Unfortunately, I have most of their stuff on vynil, not my iPod.