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`Tales Of Us` - Reviews By Us
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  • @la_catalina Hey there, R. Genuinely good (and equally surprising!) to see you here. Even if you're just passing through it's a pleasure.

    I think it's genuinely different trying try explain why something doesn't work for you than to explain why it does. Not sure which is harder to do well. Actually, explaining why parts of something taint something you still like is even harder so well handled, tatty.

    For me, it was just the sort of thing I wanted right now but that's as much to do with my headspace of recent times colliding with what they put out. Between losing/finding work, seeing the contents of my head colouring concrete (realising you're more Halber Mensch than Übermensch colours life somewhat) and a few more years on the clock I wanted something I could wrap myself in and this does that very well.

    I'm lucky in that some of things a couple of people including yourself have mentioned as the things that put you off are equally working for me. No rhyme nor reason.

    I know it won't supplant the space that FM occupies - what would - but I guess I'm ok with that. There's something about any bands first album that is near impossible to capture again if they get it right from the off and they certainly did with that.

    I can see your JB reasonings too, tatty, and you explain them very well. If subconsciously you're thinking "I'd love to make an album that has the same effect as....." then it's always going to steer closer to it rather than running parallel. Also, a great point of yours to do with the relative nature of context, age & bodies of work. Utterly unavoidable and something I'd never thought of before.

    I'm possibly far too invested in the album right now to give a proper review. I know I really like it a lot and I know it's earworming me from various angles a stupid amount. It also definitely feels like it was meant, and works far better, as an album rather than a collection of individual tracks. You know, like us fogeys used to have to enjoy back in the day :))

    Going back to your mention of Head First, La_Catalina, I think that the one thing that killed it for me was that it did (and does for me still) feel like two EP's jammed together with the wrong type of glue - a Goldfrapp one and a Scissor Sisters one. That's where TOU succeeds - things fit together.

    Far too early yet to decide where this sits in the grand scheme of things but at this second it's doing the job. It's a particularly good start.
    Post edited by The_Carpathian at 2013-09-13 19:35:12
    A million fires before your harvest comes. To burn out.
    Wear the mask of a heathen. For the moon's lonely eyes.
  • ugh why placate the obvious return to assassinate.......really come on carpy

  • stevil said:

    ugh why placate the obvious return to assassinate.......really come on carpy

    Easy, tiger! I only said it was a pleasure (and surprise) to see her and it is on both counts, especially the latter.

    The rest was as much directed to Tatty really - I do like his posting. I understand a lot of his point of view on music and enjoy reading his stuff. Not sure if it's a style thing or an age thing ;)  :))

    I've said the HF bit many times before and can't see any reason at all to put it anywhere near TOU. Whatever the relative intents at the time I know which of the two will still be getting very few complete plays and it's not TOU.






    A million fires before your harvest comes. To burn out.
    Wear the mask of a heathen. For the moon's lonely eyes.
  • I'm in agreement with Tatty in that I've no wish to become one  of those sad fuckers who's music tastes solidify after they hit 40 or whatever.... there's loads of interesting new things out there... I'm off to see Willis Earl Beal when he's over this side of the pond, he's a great find  - who'd thought I'd hear echoes of Beefheart  wow!  so I keep an open mind... I just like imagination and people doing new and different things. 

    It's a rare artist(e) who can retain their edge through a career  - though Bjork manages it ... I saw her do Biophilia live and fucking hell she was fantastic...

    I agree with the notion too that Bowie had his moment for me it was all over after the Berlin Trilogy , and let's not forget his brilliant production on Mr Pops Lust for Life ....god bowie was brilliant then he just burnt out and became pretty ordinary ... sure he still puts stuff out but it not got that sparkle has it? ....i'm a great believer in time and place ....and in the 70's he was a real genius ... time will not take that acheivement away either, no matter what he does later. Same for me with Goldfrapp then... 

    Like Tatty said domewhere in this dialogue, I would just like to have been suprised, I don't want or need another FM,It'd just be nice to have that quality of amazement restored!

    Peronally, and I think I said this back when HF emerged, maybe the innovation has gone and Alison should collaborate  with another musician, instead of, or besides Will, just to inject some fresh blood into things.

    Who's this Stevil tit? I think he's confusing me with someone else?  Anyway as HJ says I'm the old duchess around here so ... Stevil you go  and wash y'gob out with soap and water and learn some manners!

    If I'd have wanted to assassinate it'd be easy, I'm not going to do that. 


    Post edited by la_catalina at 2013-09-14 09:31:39
  • I'm in agreement with Tatty in that I've no wish to become one  of those sad fuckers who's music tastes solidify after they hit 40 or whatever.... there's loads of interesting new things out there... I'm off to see Willis Earl Beal when he's over this side of the pond, he's a great find  - who'd thought I'd hear echoes of Beefheart  wow!  so I keep an open mind... I just like imagination and people doing new and different things. 



    Like Tatty said domewhere in this dialogue, I would just like to have been suprised, I don't want or need another FM,It'd just be nice to have that quality of amazement restored!

    Peronally, and I think I said this back when HF emerged, maybe the innovation has gone and Alison should collaborate  with another musician, instead of, or besides Will, just to inject some fresh blood into things.





     Likewise to Tatt , I`m 47 and fell in love with music in July 1978 (boring reason deleted) , punk music made an impression on me and caused my ears to listen outside the box (more than fall in love with punk itself) . My frames of reference are that TOU sounds new to me as I only have a passing reference to John Barry orchestral trademarks and the concept of Scott Walker doesn`t interest me - whereas BC was a boiling cauldron of pieces of all the synth bands and uses of synths I`ve listened to since t` time t` began (or thats how it feels) buts thats just a product of our frames of reference as you note . To concur with the pair of ye , stopping loving new music and drawing a line in time where it stops seems one step from "Hey honey , lets go out and order our matching coffins today , then we can talk about fridges" .
     
     Overlapping (and non overlapping) circles of taste , musical reference and experience make the album a different experience to all , while I know what John Barry sounds like , its not a road my tastes will venture down because of this album - more a personal decision than anything else . 

     If I look at the album with a selfish eye/ear , I`d like it remixed/remade with menacing synths and sweeps that only a synth could make , with a differing approach to each track to make them more individualistic but thats just playing "fantasy shag person" and not meant as a negative against TOU . Its an observation (ie not a criticism) I`ve made before , the dance music world reinvents itself enough with innovative new sounds or production techniques so why can`t they , that I am forced by objectivity to concur about TOU isn`t innovative particularly - I still love it , I can`t help my ears (in much the same way that Oasis picked the bones from the Stones/Beatles but I still love them) , I`ll finish with the observation/praise/review in the style of Danny Dyer "Its the best album that John Barry never wrote with some bird singing on it" 
    Post edited by Sartori at 2013-09-14 11:45:56
    "Read my posts and see why we`re not allowed nice things anymore"
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  • Hi Carpy!

    and hi to everyone else from the halcyon days.....

    yep can't keep schtum!  ha ha ha so far so good!!


  • new name, but the same old crow!



    image
  • ^^^^ Hahahaha

    It is lovely to have Duch back (it has been ages and she is a sweetie :)  )  I happen to love TOU and have prattled on endlessly to such effect it is just as important that if she is not keen on it that she can express her opinion....(although it does appear that Annabell hs snuck in and burrowed into her brain hahahaha!!!!)
    Whenever I think of her it is with great fondness and a visual of her spinning around like a mad thing on the beach with Supernature blaring in the background :)

    Post edited by Cervus at 2013-09-15 02:24:44
    '' Sometimes I think I've felt everything I'm ever going to feel and from here on out I'm not going to feel anything new, just lesser versions of what I've already felt ''
  • Don't look now!
    If I were dead, could I do this?
  • What..................where???????
    Post edited by Cervus at 2013-09-15 02:21:15
    '' Sometimes I think I've felt everything I'm ever going to feel and from here on out I'm not going to feel anything new, just lesser versions of what I've already felt ''
  • I would have to say since I have listened to Tales of Us around 50 times that it stands out dramatically from Goldfrapp's previous works. When I first heard it was going to be similar to Felt Mountain and Seventh Tree I was anticipating some sort of amalgamation of the two records. What TOU turned out to be was neither. I feel that it stands as perhaps their most cohesive and emotive record to date, with snippets from their past albums thrown in underneath the layers. The opening song Jo has a synth line in throughout that sounds identical to what was used on Black Cherry's Hairy Trees. The record as whole though is incredibly emotional and evocative. Personal favorites of mine are Jo, Annabel, Drew, Stranger and Laurel. My favorite track off the whole album is Clay. It gives me this sense of unending hope and inspiration. Sonically this album is probably their most gorgeous and intricate work to date. I am absolutely in love with the record and with time I believe this will be known as their BEST album. 
  • and with time I believe this will be known as their BEST album. 



    Nope. Felt Mountain will be. Has been for years. S'all anyone bangs on about.

    They should announce Felt Mountain 2.
  • Give Tales of Us some time...it doesn't have to oddity of Felt Mountain which I still adore. Yet it does have this thread that none of their other albums can match:) This is coming from a fan who has loved them for 13 years since they started.
  • Kiyuri said:

    and with time I believe this will be known as their BEST album. 



    Nope. Felt Mountain will be. Has been for years. S'all anyone bangs on about.

    They should announce Felt Mountain 2.



    Give Tales of Us some time...it doesn't have to oddity of Felt Mountain which I still adore. Yet it does have this thread that none of their other albums can match:) This is coming from a fan who has loved them for 13 years since they started.



    This.
    I had a king in a tenement castle, lately he's taken to painting the pastel walls brown. He's taken the curtains down. He's swept with the broom of contempt, and the rooms have an empty ring. He's cleaned with the tears of an actor who fears for the laughter's sting...

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