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Re: OT: Re: (TV) Chris Bell
At 9:55 AM -0800 3/14/02, Philip P. Obbard wrote:
I like, but don't love, this record. Some of the production is pretty muddy.
There's some weird compression breathing that bugs me, now that we're
talking about recording quality. Particularly on both versions of
the title track, but I can live with it.
At
its best, however, I AM THE COSMOS sounds a lot like ALL THINGS MUST PASS - a
compliment of the best kind. The title track is a great example. But
it doesn't
hold up against any Big Star record.
Overall, no. But it's definitely stuck in my head right now in a big way.
...and thanks to the Internet and the relative inexpensiveness of good audio
manipulation software, fans have been able to create/recreate/rearrange all
sorts of interesting SMILE "what-if" compilations. I am always looking for new
attempts.
I'll have to dig up the URL of the one that I've been listening to.
I've also patched together the one listed in MOJO a few months back,
in part from some things I picked up on N*pst*r, back in the day.
(Moment of silence...)
However, after listening to this stuff since 1993, I'm much less
convinced that
a finished SMILE would have been the ultimate pop record - while
there are some
amazing songs, qualitatively it is weaker than PET SOUNDS and a lot of other
records made by Wilson's contemporaries.
I guess I'm reserving judgement, as much of what I've heard lacks
lead and harmony vocals, and obviously isn't "complete." And some of
the more complete stuff that I have heard ("Heroes and Villains," for
instance--at least the version I've been listening to) misses the
mark. There's good stuff in it, but it loses its edge. OTOH, I'm
finding myself moved by moments and sounds: "Our Prayer," the ooooo
vocal at the end of "Barnyard" even as I'm mildly put off by the
sound effects, the piano intro to "Child Is the Father of the Man"
which gives me this weird synesthetic response...I dunno, it just
screams Southern California to me in a weirdly nostalgic way (I
suspect a nostalgia for the cultural images of Southern California
from my childhood moreso than I'd be from the place itself, as it's
not like I grew up there or anything), and "Surf's Up," of course.
Going somewhat more OT--but perhaps not entirely--I find that my
responses to music often have little to do with any apparent
"intended" (insofar as one can tell) meaning derived from lyrics, and
more to do with the aggregate effect of the music itself, the sounds,
when and where I first heard things, the apparent mood... Does
anyone else have songs that they've "constructed" a personal meaning
for, but which obviously has nothing to do with any apparent
"intended" meaning by the songwriter? I'd think TV's elliptical
approach would leave a lot of room for this kind of thing.
(Semi-lame attempt to go back on-topic? You be the judge.)
--
Maurice Rickard
http://mauricerickard.com/
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