Arguably two of the biggest and most important, innovative and abrasive avant-garde albums in the entire history of rock music. Which one's better and why?
Arguably two of the biggest and most important, innovative and abrasive avant-garde albums in the entire history of rock music. Which one's better and why?
I'm not sure they are all that comparable. I always bracket trout mask with something like Y by the Pop Group. I often wonder if trout mask is some sort of elaborate in joke. I still don't really know what to make of it.
I do love white light/white heat.
See, I don't find WL/WH avant-garde in the slightest. The title track is fuzzed-out boogie-woogie played by Jerry Lee Lewis on speedballs. The Gift is just some Welsh bloke banging on about cheap alternatives to extortionate interstate travel costs and their potential pitfalls. The melody for Here She Comes Now could have come out of one of those jewellery boxes that the ballerina pops out of. And Sister Ray is just rock 'n' roll about some cross-dressers having a gang-bang. All perfectly normal. In fact I find William Shatner harder to digest.
It took me 241 listens to finally understand Trout Mask Replica. I think my turntable was set at the wrong speed prior to this. The main result of which being that since then I've never been able to answer the phone properly without shouting "IT'S THE BLIMP FRANK! IT'S THE BLIMP!" down the other end, which obviously makes people trying to talk to you about mis-sold PPI hang up. It's quite effective - you should all try it.
Not even remotely comparable. I really kike them both....although it occurs to neither them or on any of my charts. I have listened White Light more if that counts for anything. I don't think it does, though. _________________ 100 Punk Favourites
They're only comparable in that both are well-known experimental rock albums. Trout Mask's markedly more experimental, sounds less like any other album than WL/WH. Also, while WL/WH's my favorite Velvets album because I value the offbeat, I have to concede that VU & Nico's more consistently good. So the Velvet's second best album against Beefheart's best. For me, no contest.
I agree with the general consensus here that the two aren't comparable but goddamn! I didn't think the vote would be in favour of The Velvet Underground. I guess I'm still under the impression that most people think they're overrated (not me, of course). _________________ Some RYM paraphernalia:
[/i]Trout Mask Replica is an incredible album but people talk about it like it's some inscrutable cipher materialised out of the ether. It was made by Beefheart doodling on a piano he had no idea how to play, and John French transcribing those doodles and turning it into actual music. It's an incredible achievement, and it's a difficult album on first listen for sure, but once you stop trying to wrestle the individual tracks into uniform and familiar structures and let the whole thing wash over you, a veil falls and it goes from frustrating to bracing.
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