palace Basic Member Posts:392  
| 2/1/2006 7:45 PM |
|
|
not quite sure i get your point there, binokular, other than to say that aligning every piece of music to a genre is unhealthy... which is true...
guess i jsut started the thread because i wanted an argument... it wasn't forthcoming though... maybe everyone's scared?
jmc, all i've heard of paul tiernan was his live version of 'belle' on the first other voices cd which sounded rather lovely
|
|
|
|
deraBasic Member Posts:163
| 2/2/2006 12:54 AM |
|
|
This reminds me of an essay I read once, a good one too, by Flannery O'Connor, "The Serious Writer and the Tired Reader". We want to be transported at once, she said, to a mock damnation or mock redemption . I think maybe one of the reasons *Martin Finke's not on the telly and, you know, *whatshisname is, is just that. The serious writer understands that you can't just draw on the well-ploughed land. The tired reader wants the picture postcard scene, which is what whatshisname does so well.
But as someone said, the discussion needs something more than 'he's good, he's shiiite', or that great Irish Times Music Review staple - "Unlike the vast majority of miserable Irish s***er-s******rs, is..." etc
No, tell me about the aesthetic of a songwriter you like. Tell me what's s/he's done that makes your heart skip a beat or beat like a drum. Then we can talk, you know? I mean, really you'll just be telling me about you, but it might be a good conversation.
*"Martin Finke" and "whatshisname" bear no resemblance to actual characters, etc etc. Just used as example because he's particularly emblematic.
|
|
|
|
aidan Advanced Member Posts:638
| 2/2/2006 11:48 AM |
|
quote:
Originally posted by dera
No, tell me about the aesthetic of a songwriter you like. Tell me what's s/he's done that makes your heart skip a beat or beat like a drum. Then we can talk, you know? I mean, really you'll just be telling me about you, but it might be a good conversation.
grand so, I'll take you up on that. I mentioned jenny lindfors and jamie burke - she writes songs that I find very melodic, with solid structures like hooks, choruses, etc, (not like others who don't write choruses or catchy melodies) and her lyrics seem well-thought-out without being pretentious or self-absorbed. jamie burke's stuff was similar (I saw him in a support slot at whelans once).
importantly for me, both seem not to take themselves too seriously, they have a sense of humour and they look like they're enjoying themselves - which helps me to enjoy myself when I listen to music or go to a concert.
|
|
|
|
Binokular Veteran Member Posts:1665
| 2/3/2006 8:44 PM |
|
quote:
Originally posted by palace
not quite sure i get your point there, binokular, other than to say that aligning every piece of music to a genre is unhealthy... which is true...
Nope, closer to my point would be to say that singer-songwriter isn't a genre, it's an occupation. Isaac Hayes is a singer songwriter (yes, the bald dude who wrote the Shaft theme), he sings and has written hordes of classic songs. The same could be said of Barry White (who was also a genius producer), but no one remembers them as "singer songwriters", they're remembered as Soul music legends.
So by referring to an artist merely as a singer-songwriter, it highlights what they do rather than what they create. What they create is ultimately far more important.
In a sense the singer-sonwriter tag indicates lack of any real defining accomplisment?
|
|
|
|
deraBasic Member Posts:163
| 2/3/2006 9:40 PM |
|
quote:
Originally posted by Binokular
quote:
Originally posted by palace
not quite sure i get your point there, binokular, other than to say that aligning every piece of music to a genre is unhealthy... which is true...
Nope, closer to my point would be to say that singer-songwriter isn't a genre, it's an occupation. Isaac Hayes is a singer songwriter (yes, the bald dude who wrote the Shaft theme), he sings and has written hordes of classic songs. The same could be said of Barry White (who was also a genius producer), but no one remembers them as "singer songwriters", they're remembered as Soul music legends.
So by referring to an artist merely as a singer-songwriter, it highlights what they do rather than what they create. What they create is ultimately far more important.
In a sense the singer-sonwriter tag indicates lack of any real defining accomplisment?
The near-universal abuse of the s/s term as denoting "man/woman+acoustic guitar" (with very minor variations) does de facto make it almost a genre description though, much as that pains me, and, I gather, you. |
|
|
|
| 2/5/2006 7:32 PM |
|
quote:
by the way, what do people think of record companies hiring buskers to play "walk the line" as a part of a promotional campaign for the new movie/cd? link here - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2003838,00.html
terrible
"Busking, which used to be an alternative lifestyle, is now part of the corporate world." - a quote from that site |
|
|
|
MullyAdvanced Member Posts:849
| 2/6/2006 2:05 PM |
|
quote:
Originally posted by monkey
quote:
by the way, what do people think of record companies hiring buskers to play "walk the line" as a part of a promotional campaign for the new movie/cd? link here - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2003838,00.html
terrible
"Busking, which used to be an alternative lifestyle, is now part of the corporate world." - a quote from that site
The Soundtrack album, has Witherspoon & Pheonix singing the songs. Why, oh why, would anyone prefer this to the man himself ?
A royaltys swindle ? |
|
|
|
GarVeteran Member Posts:1676
| 2/6/2006 2:23 PM |
|
|
Maybe the Cash-Carter family didn't give them the rights. Or maybe James Mangold preferred to stick with the actor's vocals.
|
|
|
|
d.o.b.3 New Member Posts:39
| 2/6/2006 3:02 PM |
|
|
here's some playing tomorrow night tues 7th feb in the ruby sessions in doyle's.
joe chester vesta varro tom kitt derrick devine.
5 euro in proceeds to charity.
|
|
|
|
mutchBasic Member Posts:392
| 2/6/2006 3:27 PM |
|
|
jenny lindfors is one of the only good singer/songwriters i've come accross in my admittedly limited exposure to singer songwriters(i avoid them like nettles!) fantastic voice and delivery.
i'm prob alone(on cluas at least) on this one but Sean Tyrrell is a genius arranger and performer, http://www.seantyrrell.com/frameset.html. the words pour out of him.
it perplexes me to listen to him and then see some of your choices. standards for musicians seem so much lower these days, i sometimes wonder if the machines and tools of the studio are doin too much of the work for musicians heh.
despite my negativity towards singer songwriters, i suppose its brilliant to have an abundance of artists. its one of the great things about this little island!
|
|
|
|
| 2/7/2006 10:59 AM |
|
quote:
Originally posted by Gar
There are plenty of really good singer/songwriters on these shores:
Mark Geary is terrible. Sorry. I hope I never am subjected to that rubbish again. |
|
|
|