Happy Labor Day, those of you who live in countries that celebrate Labor Day. The rest of you, get back to work.
RepoMan wrote:
Nico's The End is epic, Art Rock of grand proportions. Stark, glacial and harrowing. The closer gives me the creeps despite the fact its 2014 which I can only imagine was Nico's intent . Nationalism can be a scary force. And Nico's working with a dream team of art rockers as Mecca mentioned. Not until Nick Cave's Bad Seeds would we get such an dream team of art rockers together again to paint such black art.
meccalecca wrote:
The End never gets the love of her previous works for some strange reason. It's still weird Nico singing haunted fairytales in a dark disturbing setting. On this record, the harmonium remains the musical focal point, but female backing vocals, Eno's subtle carnival synths and Cale's unlimited contributions provide The End with an atmosphere unlike any of her other albums.
Peace & Love has been one of the better discoveries of the tournament, but The End is a long time favorite. too steep a hill to climb _________________ http://jonnyleather.com
I actually think this a really interesting matchup, the more I consider it. Both albums are completely immersive, but whereas one is bleak and filled with darkness, the other is full of hope and spirituality.
I actually think Heart of the Congos does this particular brand of dense, hypnotic, deeply religious roots reggae considerably better than Peace & Love, but to dismiss Dadawah on that basis is akin to dismissing all playwrights on the basis that they aren't as good as Shakespeare. That comparison notwithstanding, his is a relatively unique brand of reggae, one entirely unconcerned with how it will sound on soundsystems. It isn't made for dancing to, it's made for meditating to. I'd argue that it actually shares more in common with the Qawwali music of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan than it does with other Rastafari roots artists of the age such as Culture or Burning Spear - 'Seventy-Two Nations' definitely has more of the 'Allah Hoo' about it than it does the 'Two Sevens Clash'.
And then we have Nico's dark opus, the uncompromising The End. 'Valley of the Kings' sounds like something that might be playing in some all-is-not-what-it-seems, Lynchian church, the sort of place where terrible things go on beneath the floorboards, while her, Cale and Eno render The Doors' 'The End' in all new shades of disturbing, before Phil Manzanera's guitar-solo comes along, for the first time on the entire record, and allows you to breathe again, as though you've been held against your will, forced to wait for a ritual sacrifice. And then, when it finally happens, the overwhelming feeling is that of relief. Yes, you may just have been witness to the most disturbing thing you'll ever see, but it was the anxiety that was killing you, at least now it's over. And maybe you can even admit to yourself that it was sort of thrilling. "It hurts to set you free, but you'll never follow me". The whole vibe adds a totally new and exciting level to Morrison's lyrics.
When it comes down to it, both these records are brilliant, so similar and yet so completely different. As I said, it's a really interesting matchup. It all boils down to personal taste really, and I'm gonna take the meditative reggae over the gothic art-rock pretty much every time, but it's really cool to see these records pitted against one another, if a pity that one must go out here. But yeah, the matchup just feels right. It's like dark vs. light. _________________ 2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.
Another classic "the dark" vs. "the light" battlegrounds and being a disciple of the light, this vote easily goes to Love... _________________ "And can’t you see you’re in on it?
You were born though you need not
And is that not some cause
For worship, being born among these trees?"
I actually think this a really interesting matchup, the more I consider it. Both albums are completely immersive, but whereas one is bleak and filled with darkness, the other is full of hope and spirituality.
This. On my second listen, knowing what to expect from Peace & Love, I began to realize that I recognized the emotions contained in the music. I grew up in a church that was fairly worship-oriented. How you worship, and why you worship, is almost as important as Who, says my upbringing. I even recognized some of the Bible verses he was quoting.
I don't know how Christian Rastifarianism is. (and I don't want to start a debate about it. It's none of my business,really). What I know is that this album reminded me that worship is an essential part of being human, and that reminder was a Good Thing.
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Listmeister
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