[Closed] Best of 1974 2AQ: Unrest vs. Phaedra

Listmeister · 2014-09-01T13:05:52-04:00

Henry Cow is typically considered the best out of all the bigger RIO bands, which is understandable. I honestly love Henry Cow's work. The easiest way to describe it is going to a carnival for the insane. The composition is fabulous throughout and the instruments are played with an insane amount of skill. Henry Cow mainly works because of the insanity of the composition and it's a pretty interesting journey throughout everything the band does. Outside of Secret Treaties, I can't see myself voting against Unrest in this tourney (at least, against the competitors that are currently left). Another vote for the sock. Never really listened to Henry Cow before this, but color me impressed. Reminds me a bit of Zorn and the most experimental moments of Disco Volante. Unrest by Henry Cow I love its spooky, futuristic ambience and how the tracks evocatively & naturally build. It’s almost impossible to listen to this and not visualize some dystopian future which is probably because so many science fiction soundtracks movies from the 70s & early 80s liberally lifted from it. Mysterious Semblance in particular gives me a sense of wonder at something larger than myself that the best science fiction movies can evoke. It’s influence even extends to 70s horror soundtrack genre which is one of my favorites. Probably most interesting though is it’s clearly the wellspring from which Aphex Twin returned again and again for all his bubbling synths & organic atmospherics. In fact, I would suggest that Tangerine Dream is more important than Kraftwerk for development of IDM but for some reason it doesn’t get nearly the love. Perhaps it’s because they eschewed song structure altogether. It’s definitely more emotive than Autobahn. Of course, many would argue it’s that very absence of emotion that makes Autobahn so seminal. That’d be a really interesting debate. But, I like emotion in my music - even it’s just the hairs on the back of my neck stiffening. Phaedra by Tangerine Dream

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Poll: Which do you like better?

Unrest by Henry Cow:		44%	[8]
Phaedra by Tangerine Dream:		55%	[10]

Total Votes : 18

WindowAbove Profile
Iowa

Unrest

RepoMan

Skinny wrote:

Hmm, repeated listening hasn't actually done Unrest any favours for me, I'm just not sure I find it all that great.

I have to agree that the first couple of spins were the best and that now tracks such as Linquaphonie are wearing out there welcome. The album does conjure up some great imagery for me though at times - mostly black and white movies from the 50s & 60s, Hitchcock-ian fare, or unsurprisingly, The Twilight Zone. This is the type of sound and band that I'd prefer to experience live with a couple of cocktails close in hand and plenty of of eye candy to distract during the boring, meandering parts.

Phaedra.

Listmeister Profile
Ohio

God rest ye, Henry Cow

Phaedra 10-8

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