happy halloween b&s fans!

[suzanne]

apparently, even our good pal Simon Goddard loves these fools and gave them a glowing review in Uncut.

not that i fault him, but who here thinks that production added that much to the album? underneath it all, its still Stuart and the gang.

 

[Satan Rejected My Soul]

I disagree. Trevor Horn, the Producer, had a lot to do with the quality of this album.

Trevor Horn is an excellent producer, he owns Hook End Manor, and I wish Morrissey would work with him.

Mr. Horn is very Stephen Street-ish. I like his style very much.

This is not to take away from B&S, because I think they are very talented.

 

[suzanne]

> I disagree. Trevor Horn, the Producer, had a lot to do with the quality of
> this album.

maybe, but i still don't consider it a grandiose metamorphasis. its not like morrissey's albums where all of them sound like they've beamed down from different planets.

but my ears are really bad. really really bad.

> Trevor Horn is an excellent producer, he owns Hook End Manor, and I wish
> Morrissey would work with him.

odd that morrissey was theoretically supposed to be recording in Hook End recently....not that we have any direct proof other than his wandering around on a street in a town near the vicinity....but maybe Trevor's an engineer or otherwise involved...?

not that i know, but hey, you need other people than Jerry Finn, right?

wait, jerry probably has his own team of people. nevermind.

> Mr. Horn is very Stephen Street-ish. I like his style very much.

> This is not to take away from B&S, because I think they are very talented.

 

[Patrick McCann]

Re: They're okay but don't go to see them live. Now that IS scary....

..and you'll be having all kinds of nightmares and unpleasant flashbacks for weeks.

At a Toronto gig last year, I ended up looking at the air-conditioning ducts that snaked around the venue. And I'm not remotely interested in air-conditioning.

 

[suzanne]

Re: They're okay but don't go to see them live. Now that IS scary....

> ..and you'll be having all kinds of nightmares and unpleasant flashbacks
> for weeks.

> At a Toronto gig last year, I ended up looking at the air-conditioning
> ducts that snaked around the venue. And I'm not remotely interested in
> air-conditioning.

too late! i'm seeing them tomorrow night.

but i've seen them twice before. once in Boston back in '98, and that was indeed an exercise in putting you to sleep, but when they came to austin last year, they were swivelling around and enjoying themselves quite a bit and i ended up having fun.

 

[Patrick McCann]

Re: They're okay but don't go to see them live. Now that IS scary....

> too late! i'm seeing them tomorrow night.

> but i've seen them twice before. once in Boston back in '98, and that was
> indeed an exercise in putting you to sleep, but when they came to austin
> last year, they were swivelling around and enjoying themselves quite a bit
> and i ended up having fun.

Funny you should say that, because I think the band themselves had heard about their lack of..erm...presence? Is that the right word? Charisma? Something like that anyway.
The Austin gig you were at last year was no doubt part of the same tour that I saw in Toronto.
I think , by then, they had heard all the criticism of their live act and decided to enliven it up a wee bit.
As you say - swivelling around and enjoying themselves. In Toronto they did the same, and even got a bird out of the audience up on stage to do a song with them.
Unfortunately, the whole thing fell flat and I had that horrible feeling I get when I see people trying TOO hard. Prickliness, a general opening of the pores, embarrassment (for the performer), and (the tell-tale sign) curling of the toes.
Anyway, maybe it's just the old curmudgeon in me. Everyone else seemed to enjoy it. But maybe they were just pretending.
Ooops, there goes that old curmudgeon again.

 

[suzanne]

Re: They're okay but don't go to see them live. Now that IS scary....

> Funny you should say that, because I think the band themselves had heard
> about their lack of..erm...presence? Is that the right word? Charisma?
> Something like that anyway.
> The Austin gig you were at last year was no doubt part of the same tour
> that I saw in Toronto.
> I think , by then, they had heard all the criticism of their live act and
> decided to enliven it up a wee bit.
> As you say - swivelling around and enjoying themselves. In Toronto they
> did the same, and even got a bird out of the audience up on stage to do a
> song with them.
> Unfortunately, the whole thing fell flat and I had that horrible feeling I
> get when I see people trying TOO hard. Prickliness, a general opening of
> the pores, embarrassment (for the performer), and (the tell-tale sign)
> curling of the toes.
> Anyway, maybe it's just the old curmudgeon in me. Everyone else seemed to
> enjoy it. But maybe they were just pretending.
> Ooops, there goes that old curmudgeon again.

i saw them in Boston back in '98, and i swear that in between each song, you could hear a pin drop. it was like i was watching the Canadian Brass ensemble, but with people standing on their feet and dressed in t-shirts. at one point, stuart seemed to disappear from the stage and i couldn't figure out where he was singing from, but he suddenly popped up from a keyboard in the middle of the stage, and a small bit of laughter errupted from the audience.

i wasn't fully impressed, but when i heard they were coming here, i had to go. they are one of my favorite bands and who knew if they would ever come back? besides, even if they are less than amusing live, i still want to honor them with my presence!

and it was nice to see that they had evolved, but partly, i think they were amazed by the size of the crowd and the enthusiasm the audience showed, so i don't think they really had to try that hard to act like they were having a good time.