OFF: Better popular bands??

[Keith Henderson]

Hi Folks...

Awhile back I mentioned Radiohead in part of a message, wondering what it
was that was so fascinating to some progheads and common folk alike.  At
that point, I had picked up a cheapie used copy of Pablo Honey, and was
summarily unimpressed by what appeared to be your average run-of-the-mill
alternative rock.

Folks here and on PT-trans indicated that they had grown fantastically
since, and to try out the newest, OK Computer.  Well, I kind of put that in
the back of my head for a spell, but yesterday came across a used copy of
this one.  So I went for it.

Well, it's too early to tell with only one listen, but I'm only slightly
more impressed with this effort.  There is definitely some interesting music
going on here at times, particularly on tracks 2 and 3, the latter being
wonderfully spacey. There are also a few throw-away tracks.  I don't
particularly care for the bright, sometimes brassy sound of the recording,
particularly the percussion and often the guitar as well.  But I guess
that's personal taste (and from listening to too much Black Sabbath).  But
there is one thing about this band that makes it impossible for me to
recommend....the singer just plain sucks.  His voice is awful, and he sings
in a whiny style that reminds me of the projected ghouls in (the original)
Star Trek episode 'Catspaw.'  (What was it that Spock said???  "Very bad
poetry." or something?)  :)

Now I seem to get the impression that quite a number of popular bands have
vocalists who drone on like this.  Three that come to mind (now keep in mind
that I've heard exactly one song by each of these groups ever, and that
being on TV shows) are:

the guy from Third Eye Blind (who I panned here before...man, he sucked!)
the guy from Oasis (I saw them on TV last week...man, he *really* sucks!)
Dave Matthews (who was on-stage with some other band guesting...what a hack!!)

Well, whatever the case, no way am I going to recommend this band to
everyone simply on account of them being the only progressive-type artist to
have people's attention at the moment.  (I guess Spiritualized is
another...haven't heard them, but I assume they're similar to Spaceman 3,
who they were spawned from, is that right??  Anyway, the one Spaceman 3 disc
I have didn't impress me at all.  Finland's Circle is an order of magnitude
more interesting using the same, hypnotic-drone-noise base.)  But back to
what I was saying, I'm not going to 'lower my lofty standards' :) to support
this average group in light of the dozens of wonderful bands out there that
*could* be replacing them in the spotlight.  For instance, yesterday I also
found a used copy of a 'Walk on Water' (Detroit, MI) mini-CD called
'Solvent-based melodies', which is wonderful, and beats the hell out of OK
Computer.

There are so many really good bands sprouting up these days, esp. here in
the states and in Scandinavia (at least that's my preception).  Strangely,
the UK and Germany no longer seem to be providing 90% of the music I buy,
like they had for so long.  No matter, I guess it's our turn now for a
change.  Spread the fun around a little bit.

So anyway, there are more names that I see pop up from time to time in
newsgroups and various mailing lists.  By no means am I against supporting a
popular band (I'm all for Monster Magnet, etc. making a name for themselves
in pop culture), so are any of these artists *really* any damn good, and in
what way...

Spiritualized (as mentioned before)
The Verve (or is it Verve Pipe??  why do I see it both ways??)
Gov't Mule
Perfume Tree (I'm not sure if they're well known or not??)

That's all the ranting for now.  I have enough indie bands to discover that
I don't have time to search out all these pop bands.  :)

In Space We Trust...Keith H. (FAA)

ObCD:  quarkspace - Live Orion (*much* more impressive than the S/T debut)