Metamatic Forums Socialising The Green Room What Music Are You Listening To ?

Ok Lele! Well it's been raining here for three days running - more or less since I bought and started listening to Manafon ... I sort of overdid it on Monday tho I think and had to listen to Gone to Earth as a kind of antidote.

This morning it's been Manafon (second half) and Glimmer Disc 2.

David Sylvian - Manafon


Not really in the same mould as Blemish as has been said in other sites. His lyrics are still great & am loving the title track. Quality.

Back on the Sgt Pepper remaster today!

I know it's considered a classic milestone in rock history and all that but I think most of it sounds incredibly dated now, and there are so many 'fillers'. It's a crime they didn't put Strawberry Fields / Penny Lane in it.

Since they were recorded in the same sessions, yeah!

I don't agree though, I don't think it is really dated as such. It's just no longer the 'epic' album it once was. The tracks all seem so much shorter than I remember them from years ago.

Despite that, it's still a personal favourite.

Sgt Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour stand out for me as the Beatles' best work.

I recently tried the White album and thought it was the biggest load of overhyped nonsense I've ever heard!!

I really did try to give the Beatles their due - you have to respect them for the seismic shifts their music and experimentation, and the times they changed and lived in. But time has caught them up. John Lennon once said that the only way to listen to Sgt. Pepper and The White Album is in mono. The reasons for this are far too lengthy and dull to go into, but he's quite right, so much so that there's even a mono box set available now.

So last year I got hold of the mono editions of Sgt. Pepper and The White Album and I sat and I listened, giving them the respect they deserve considering their impact and legacy.

But impact and legacy aside - they just don't stand up anymore. In comparison to Revolver or Rubber Soul they're actually quite weak. Whatever format you listen to.

I haven't heard Rubber Soul, but I found Revolver quite dull to be honest. Taxman, Eleanor Rigby and Tomorrow Never Knows aside, I failed to understand what all the hype was about.

All of their music is quite typical of it's time and it is dated - but it's also iconic and I would say still very influential. We all know music just wouldn't have been the same without them.

Yes Rubber Soul is my favourite album, but again I don't think The Beatles were ever an 'album' band. Perhaps they finally got it together, oddly, on Abbey Road, but again that's all debateable.

Help! is a good pop album but again you've got to put up with songs like Act Naturally or You Like Me Too Much. They put Yesterday on the end as a kind of afterthought. They were pioneering but then again didn't always get it right - perhaps therein lies their charm.

now listening to: Magical Mysery Tour (mono)

Discovering some of their albums for the first time recently, I would have to agree in them being more of a singles band than an album band.

Everything's currently being eclipsed by the new Sylvian album Manafon.

It's far to early to articulate how good this album is, but the opening line is “It's the farthest place i've ever been, it's a new frontier for me” - seems to sum it up.

He's forging a brand new path and journey here. In its own unique way - it's a stunning debut album.