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Posted by TheFullCleveland on 2008-10-15 16:47:40 +0000

Posted by mahatma chani on 2008-10-16 17:31:23 +0000

Is it just me or is this record just "Once in a Lifetime" and the rest some Paul Simon "Rhythym of the Saints"-esque bullshit?

Posted by tgl on 2008-10-17 11:12:40 +0000

Just you.

Posted by MF DU on 2008-10-17 12:50:37 +0000

Just you.

Posted by ConorClockwise on 2008-10-17 14:05:21 +0000

Just you.

Posted by G lib on 2008-10-17 15:18:56 +0000

Just you

Posted by mahatma chani on 2008-10-17 16:52:03 +0000

Fine then, I'll bite: Anybody care to articulate why I should care about this record?

Posted by MF DU on 2008-10-17 17:14:15 +0000

Before I can articulate, I have to work a bit to make sure I understand exactly what you mean by '"Rhythym of the Saints"-esque bullshit'. Horn, voice,and percussion heavy arrangements leaning towards Non Western musical ideas (aka world I guess)?I know T Heads did this 'World' type of thing, but that was much later, like post 'Wild Life' stuff in the mid 80's. RIL has some interesting electronic and spatial arrangements, but what puts RIL specifically in with Ladysmith Black Mambazo 'Graceland' vocals or the tribal 'Rhythm of The Saints' stuff Paul Simon did?

Posted by MF DU on 2008-10-17 17:20:48 +0000

On an unrelated note, have you ever read Jonathan Lethem in general or Fortress Of Solitude in particular? This book puts 'Remain In Light' into words in ways I could never attempt.

Posted by MF DU on 2008-10-17 17:40:17 +0000

I'm also laughing now, remembering a few days ago mahatma was all up in dyedon's grill to post the damn thing, just to affront it w/ Paul Simonisms...

Posted by dyedon8 on 2008-10-17 18:11:50 +0000

Why do you like the Dismemberment Plan?

Posted by dyedon8 on 2008-10-17 18:12:55 +0000

Lethem is rumored to be writing a book about Talking Heads for 33 1/3.

Posted by mahatma chani on 2008-10-17 18:20:31 +0000

True. I've been in a (semi-regular) habit of DL-ing the record of the week Monday/Tuesday and I was just curious where it was.

Posted by mahatma chani on 2008-10-17 18:25:27 +0000

I liked the lyrics. He was a great storyteller that captured the angst of a post-College twentynothing with a crap job really well. I find them almost impossible to listen to nowadays; yes, dare I say cringeworthy?

Posted by dyedon8 on 2008-10-17 18:31:22 +0000

Fair enough. I guess what I was getting at (probably pretty obvious) is that Talking Heads, along with the Dan, are a HUGE influence on the Plan. 'Light' has some of the same obvious, bleepy signifiers as the second and third Plan records, as well as some of the same drumbeats, albeit in a much more sped-up/punked-out fashion. The production on 'Light' is just right. Comparing this album to Paul Simon is a tough sell for me.

Posted by tommy on 2008-10-17 19:20:00 +0000

Not just you. I don't feel as strongly about it as you do, but, yeah, one great song and then a bunch of boring stuff. I wouldn't say it's bad, just not catchy and not exciting. Yawn. From the video, it looks like they've hired musicians to actually play the songs live while the four of them kinda hold their instruments in front of them.

Posted by tommy on 2008-10-17 19:30:13 +0000

Re: Paul Simon... The greatest album review ever written appeared in the Lowell Connector (UML school newspaper) circa February 1993. Here it is, in its entirety (to the best of my memory): Peter Gabriel - Us Remember about 4 months ago I reviewed this album, and grudgingly gave Peter Gabriel credit for being "slightly cooler than Paul Simon"? I take that back.

Posted by tgl on 2008-10-18 00:33:53 +0000

Add to the choice cuts list: "Houses in Motion" "Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)" The rest is nearly forgettable. "Seen and Not Seen" is good too, Eno-ambient-esque.

Posted by tgl on 2008-10-18 00:41:00 +0000

I'll try to articulate: The African influence is much more interesting here than when Paul Simon does it. It's not all LBM... I hear Tunisian/North African elements too (notably on "Houses in Motion"). Most importantly, the continental African influence is just that, an _influence_. Not a wholesale "write a song with LBM" exercise. LBM could have put out Graceland, they didn't need Simon to help them.

Posted by tgl on 2008-10-18 00:42:31 +0000

Oops, not "SaNS", but "Listening Wind".

Posted by ConorClockwise on 2008-10-18 09:18:06 +0000

Very well. Where shall I begin? My first recollection of playing a record immediately after we (technically my older sister) bought the album from the store ("Strawberries") was 'Little Creatures'. My sister played it two or three times and then put 'RiL' on. ('84/'85?) "'Remain in Light' is better", she said. It's 23/24 years later, and I still don't know how to talk about this album: -Sometimes it sounds like 90s Fishbone; sometimes it sounds like 60s Stones. -"We don't try to sell records". -It has true Album Art; it's almost the 'Repo Man' sound track -It sounds like the Grateful Dead jamming for 7 minutes; it sounds like a Bob Dylan folk tune without bridges or choruses. -It sounds like Paul Simon, 5 years before Paul Simon had a sound -It sounds like art; it has a sound, and it sounds like fun.

Posted by mahatma chani on 2008-10-18 13:21:07 +0000

Fair enough. That's why we do these immersions: to finally listen to music that we'd been meaning to for years, but hadn't. And to share the music we love to the rest of rideside who had never heard it. Just gonna throw it out there "Fear of Music" is way better than this one. ------------