SOMMS Digest - 8 Dec 1998 to 9 Dec 1998 [ 16KB. ] [ Unable to print this part. ] There are 15 messages totalling 391 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. stomach's burning alcohol... (3) 2. An interesting question of pure OPINION!!!! 3. Possible Thread? (production) (8) 4. (production) 5. Chris in a silver porsche? 6. you may got that alcohol, but baby i got those dancin shoes... To UNSUBSCRIBE from SOMMS, send email to LISTSERV@MITVMA.MIT.EDU with the following in the body of your message: SIGNOFF SOMMS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 8 Dec 1998 02:20:59 -0500 From: jenny grover Subject: Re: stomach's burning alcohol... Jesus Christ Pose is a pretty angry song, don't you think? And Face Pollution? Jen (who drives a FORD Mustang) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Dec 1998 06:57:13 EST From: Ben Timberlake Subject: Re: An interesting question of pure OPINION!!!! >in all of this hype about powerful songs, and my own listening adventures, i >came up with this question. What Soundgarden song portrays the most vivd >vusual image; music only? my vote is with Fluttergirl, the solo. you can >just see something hovering, of fluttering away. That Fluttergirl solo is very vivid. It's always reminded me of Jimi Hendrix's "Angel" in mood and evocative imagery. The guitar on "My Wave" (though poorly mixed, imho) for some reason makes me think of summertime. I suppose it's one of those associative things. But there's an inkling of freedom in there that could be connected to summertime. I guess that's not really an image, but it's the best you're gettin' out of me! ;) -- Ben Ben Timberlake Hysterical & btimlake@aol.com Useless "Genius lies in choosing to be a genius and *in being right*." -- Julio Cortazar, "Hopscotch" ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Dec 1998 08:18:45 -0500 From: Craig Griffith Subject: Possible Thread? (production) Hearing Ben talk about the mix on My Wave got me thinking...what do you sommies think is the best-produced Soundgarden album? My vote, I believe, would go either for Down On The Upside (clean, but also very live-sounding) or Badmotorfinger (raw and beautiful). Interestingly enough, as those of you who might like Dream Theater would know, Terry Date (Badmotorfinger) also produced Dream Theater's debut album, When Dream And Day Unite and did an absolute fuck-up job of it for the most part. The bass, though virtuosic in playing, sounds like it was played on a Crate 10-watt amp wrapped in wet towels and recorded through a telephone encased in styrofoam. The keyboards are far too low in the mix for Dream Theater at that time period (think Images and Words), and the guitar tone is, well, feh. How did the same guy do these two albums? -- Craig Griffith: High school student, guitar player, King of Craigland http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/Dell/8509/ "I may make you feel, but I can't make you think" -Ian Anderson ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Dec 1998 10:42:47 -0800 From: "Barbara L. Strong" Subject: stomach's burning alcohol... > does anyone have an opinion on what SG's angriest song could be? Mailman always struck me as a song filled with contempt and anger. I won't go into an entire song interp here, but personally the song reminds me of a real asshole that I know. A guy who is so insecure with himself that he treats the people around him like shit, even people who love him, to make himself feel better. Puts himself up on a pedestal and acts as if he is above everyone. Anyway, when I hear Mailman, I imagine myself reciting the lyrics to him and I get almost hostile thinking about it. During the line "And now I send you a message of love", you can hear the sarcasm and disgust dripping from Chris' voice. It's not a hard core speed kinda song like Ty Cobb, the kinda song that makes you drive 25 mph faster and scream "Fuck you all", but I hear anger in the music and lyrics. Like I said, this is totally personal for me - it's the way I interpret the song and the way it makes me feel... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Dec 1998 15:55:41 -0330 From: Marc Hollett Subject: Re: Possible Thread? (production) Dream Theatre probably wanted a different sound. The producer just makes the sound, he doesn't tell the band what to sound like (for the most part). ---------- : From: Craig Griffith : To: SOMMS@MITVMA.MIT.EDU : Subject: Possible Thread? (production) : Date: December 8, 1998 9:48 AM : : Hearing Ben talk about the mix on My Wave got me thinking...what do you : sommies think is the best-produced Soundgarden album? My vote, I : believe, would go either for Down On The Upside (clean, but also very : live-sounding) or Badmotorfinger (raw and beautiful). Interestingly : enough, as those of you who might like Dream Theater would know, Terry : Date (Badmotorfinger) also produced Dream Theater's debut album, When : Dream And Day Unite and did an absolute fuck-up job of it for the most : part. The bass, though virtuosic in playing, sounds like it was played : on a Crate 10-watt amp wrapped in wet towels and recorded through a : telephone encased in styrofoam. The keyboards are far too low in the : mix for Dream Theater at that time period (think Images and Words), and : the guitar tone is, well, feh. How did the same guy do these two : albums? : : -- : Craig Griffith: High school student, guitar player, King of Craigland : http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/Dell/8509/ : "I may make you feel, but I can't make you think" -Ian Anderson ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Dec 1998 15:19:40 EST From: Charlie Mccutcheon Subject: Re: (production) i like dotus, superunknown or their sub pop stuff. louder than love sounds very eighties prod.wise (too much reverb is bad for your health) and badmotorfinger gets too noisy at points. and noisy is not good all of the time. what i liked about dotu was, a) the fact that they bruced it themselves, and b) how it sounds looser than the others. it sounds more like your sitting in on a practice and between songs they're offering you a drink. that kind of feeling. superunknown sounds verrry professional, but knows when to keep that live feel. it's slick sounding but the songs are equally slick so they don't sound out of place. and not every little bit is crammed w/ noise like bmf, there are subtleties in the music more than extra noises in the music. the early recordings for sub pop and c/z (deep six) are raw but not sloppy. plus they used more flange back then and that's my favorite sound on those records. the chimey, overdriven guitars. thanks charlie ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Dec 1998 14:37:21 -0500 From: MICHAEL APPLE Subject: Re: Possible Thread? (production) Date sent: 8-DEC-1998 14:34:57 >Hearing Ben talk about the mix on My Wave got me thinking...what do you >sommies think is the best-produced Soundgarden album? My vote, I >believe, would go either for Down On The Upside (clean, but also very >live-sounding) or Badmotorfinger (raw and beautiful). Interestingly >enough, as those of you who might like Dream Theater would know, Terry >Date (Badmotorfinger) also produced Dream Theater's debut album, When >Dream And Day Unite and did an absolute fuck-up job of it for the most >part. The bass, though virtuosic in playing, sounds like it was played >on a Crate 10-watt amp wrapped in wet towels and recorded through a >telephone encased in styrofoam. The keyboards are far too low in the >mix for Dream Theater at that time period (think Images and Words), and >the guitar tone is, well, feh. How did the same guy do these two >albums? I agree that DOTU has the best production. They struck the perfect balance between the rough edges of Screaming Life and the cleanliness of Superunknown. Plus, I think they got the best performances out of everyone because there was no Beinhorn breathing over their shoulders. Later, Mike Apple ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Dec 1998 22:09:19 +0100 From: Headblaster Of Reality Subject: Re: stomach's burning alcohol... I must say that Never The Machine Forever is a pretty angry song. The angriest according to me. Especially lyrically, but also musically. -Fredrik "Here we come, entranced by the mellow! Hey! Ho! It's the man with the silver pipe!" - Cathedral, The Voyage Of The Homeless Sapien (IV.Drifting through Neptunes veins) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Dec 1998 16:49:28 -0500 From: Adrian Subject: Re: Chris in a silver porsche? >>Chris, how could you go for a Ford...the humanity. After all, doesn't FORD >>stand for: Found On the Road, Dead. Mercedes is the quality automobile of >>choice, go for one of them. > >Either that or it stand for "Fix Or Repair Daily." Backwards, it's "driver returns on foot." _____________________________________________________________ Adrian age@jhu.edu http://www.alfheim.net/~age/ (freezing in the cold wind that screams through the silence, in the barren wastes of my heart) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Dec 1998 19:51:37 -0500 From: Anson Watkins Subject: Re: Possible Thread? (production) I believe that Badmotorfinger is the best produced album by soundgarden. Song after song everything just seems to fit together. You never hear the guitar drowning out the vocals or vice versa. It is so crisp and clean. Superunknown is good but sometimes it sounds overproduced. It seems as if some of the guitars lines are mechanically put out and don't have an original feel (caused by so many retakes). DOTU seems underproduced in areas where it sound like they needed a couple of more takes. I know the question was on the best soundgarden produced album but Temple of the Dog is produced perfectly to hear how sweet the voice of Chris is. Kayler Foxx ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Dec 1998 20:09:48 EST From: Matt Hammons Subject: Re: Possible Thread? (production) Funny thing about DOTU though, production-wise. I've always felt that while I agree it is their best produced album, the big singles (BIMH, Pretty Noose, BUTOW) always seemed strangely out of place. They seem like remnants of SU almost. Matt ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Dec 1998 21:15:35 EST From: Kathleen Burrows Subject: you may got that alcohol, but baby i got those dancin shoes... remember kiddies: anger doesn't always mean thrash-o geetars and matt kikin the shit outta his drums. there's subtle anger too... SO... my vote to the most angry song goes to: --> zero chance <-- and since we had those folks on the list who like very descriptive explanations of your opinions, here's my babblin: good gravy... where to begin. well, the ALL TIME bestest quote i've ever heard is this one: "why doesn't anyone believe in loneliness... stand up and everyone will see your holiness..." now come on!!! i relate to this song word for word, so i see how this can be angry... anyone else, eh?? oh well... zero chance has to be The Song... cause man... i voted it for most powerful, most angry, and rite now: most vivid. i get chills man, cause i paint the whole song out like a picture. man oh man... i love my boys their mad skillz... (LOL)... chat yall up later!! adios and kee p on truckin!!! peace, love, hope, faith, soup and s o u n d g a r d e n always groovy, kathleen : )) concert countdown: t-minus 11 days till deftones... ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Dec 1998 22:14:43 EST From: Lance Huber Subject: Re: Possible Thread? (production) There is such a thing as "over-production". Badmotorfinger is not over produced which is just one more reason why it is the best album that ever came from the creative corner of Soundgarden. The pinnacle, the zenith, simply put..................the best. Lance ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Dec 1998 22:29:59 -0500 From: Brian Kirkner Subject: Re: Possible Thread? (production) I think that the record that is also the murkiest (besides maybe LTL), is also the one that is best produced--Ultramega OK. The production on Ultramega OK isn't known for sounding top-dollar or anything of that nature, however it corresponds with the type of music being played and the overall look of the album. Which is why I feel that Ultramega OK is also the best overall Soundgarden album. I also consider this the best SG record because it is a rather experimental sounding record due to the unrefined punk edge. The things that stand out most on the record include: Blowing on guitar ("Flower"), mumbling the words to a verse ("All Your Lies"), reverse playability ("665"), industrial sounding ("Beyond the Wheel"), a song called "667" ("667") lead bass melody line ("Mood for Trouble"), Hiro on vocals ("Circle of Power"), Odd time signature ("He Didn't"), electronic kickdrum effect ("Smokestack Lightning"), radio sample in beginning ("Nazi Driver"), spoken words on top of feedback ("Headinjury"), guitar work above normal ("Incessant Mace"), John Lennon parody ("One Minute of Silence"). In fact, the only thing that I really dislike about the record is that you can't hear what they're saying in "One Minute of Silence." ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Dec 1998 00:24:01 -0500 From: Ross Filipek Subject: Re: Possible Thread? (production) >I believe that Badmotorfinger is the best produced album by soundgarden. I remember reading an interview done with Matt in Modern Drummer magazine just after Superunknown was released. One of the things he talked about was the difference between BMF and Superunknown in terms of production approach. He mentioned that BMF was produced with an album-wide focus (that is, all the drum tracks were recorded first, then all the bass tracks were laid on top, then guitar. . .). He said something to the effect that this made all the tracks sound sort of "the same." When asked about the production of Superunknown, however, he said that they worked on one song at a time, from start to completion. He seemed to be much more satisfied with that approach, saying that it made the album much more diverse (or something like that). (Seth and Justin: I think I sent each of you a copy of this article a few years back, yes?) Ross ------------------------------ End of SOMMS Digest - 8 Dec 1998 to 9 Dec 1998 **********************************************