Entertainment For Lively Minds
Joanna Newsom: Emperor's New Clothes Alert!
Posted by itfc1959 on 12 March 2010 - 1:15pm.
And I just don't get it. I can't get get past the fact that yes, she really does sound like you-know-who, and I can't get past the other fact that I just don't like it.
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I have to say I was writing
I have to say I was writing this before the previous blog got posted. A neat coincidence.
Voice
Listening to her sing at the moment - who told her she has a good voice?
I've just decided that...
I fucking hate harps. They're big and stupid-looking and make a ghastly twee plinking sound.
Don't get me started on her voice.
I love harps
can't stand her, though.
Harps can do this:
Which, is pretty amazing, I think.
(Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Harp Cadenza, for those watching in black and white.)
I love her
I think she has a fabulous voice and unique songs, but a bit like Bjork, she's deffo a Marmite act. Gorgeous too.
It's one of those things...
...where I think one camp just can't understand the point of view of the other. Perhaps in years to come, her detractors will build a security fence to keep the admirers out. Weird, the depth of the antipathy towards this one artist - I'd suggest that if people don't like her, they avoid listening to her.
Anyway, I'm with Twangothan. I love her voice, and think the music is drop-dead beautiful.
Tim Tunes - on the whole "who told her she had a good voice?" question, actually, I think classically "good" voices are vastly overrated. Bob Dylan can't sing for shit, in any real sense, but does that mean I want Michael Bublé, who emphatically CAN sing, covering all of Bob's oeuvre? Fuck, no. Which gives me an idea for a thread....
Anyway
she can sing, perfectly in tune. Singing is something which can either do or can't. It is not subjective. She can sing, as opposed to, say, Ian Dury who patently couldn't. You might not like the results though! She sometimes has a weird Billie Holliday kind of timbre which is perfectly fine with me too. Anyone who thinks she can't sing clearly has either never heard her or has cloth ears.
After some extensive research...
...which involved listening to the album once a day for a fortnight I have reached my conclusion - it's shit.
Good work, Formbyman.
You have suffered so that the rest of us might not. The sacrifice of your time will not go unnoticed.
It does rather sound as if she's got her left tit caught in the strings, doesn't it?
I hate threads like this.
So I don't read them.
new to her
Have read all the threads previously about the 'is she or isn't she worth the hype' and am fairly and squarely in the camp of her admirers. Listened to the new album for the first time last night and was completely blown away. Bit 'challenging' but absolutely beautiful. Plenty of YouTube clips available too and probably help in explaining what she's all about(This would be the bit where I would attach a clip if I wan't so crap at all that malarkey).
Very well put, Barry
the Youtube thing is dead easy - just copy and paste the clip's url into your message and it appears.
Give it a go.
Cheers Badartdog all I needed was that gentle nudge!
Ys
Remember the hype? That was shit too...
Rubbish.....
Not even Fischenspooner or Gay Dad got this much positive press.
Does the world really need another caterwauler?
I must admit...
... I HATE it when people use the whole "Emporer's New Clothes" trope as a way of disparaging other people's tastes.
It basically says that I am SO much clever, more aware and intelligent than you, that you are looking at a naked man and thinking he has clothes on, i.e. that you are factually incorrect, and I am factually correct. Ya Boo!
Think about it this way: if you were at the emporer's parade on that fateful day, saw him naked, and thought "wow, what a nice set of clothes", then you would have been wowed by the experience of seeing something beautiful, and gone home cheerful, fulfilled and happy. If someone noticed that he DIDN'T clothes on, they would have basically had a bit of a grumpy old moan, and been the most miserable person at the parade. What a sad position to be in.
Rant over.
*applauds*
well put, Jonah.
Yeah...
... but if you like someone it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. There was a thread on here ages ago which really layed into Sonic Youth (not everyone's cup of tea, I admit) and I thought these people don't really get it. Maybe the people that don't like Joanne Newsom (me included) don't really get it - you do - that should be enough.
I hate it when people use the whole 'Trope' trope as a way of...
Shit, the smoke alarm is going off...
Was prepared to give it a go
but its fucking dreadful. Someone put her out of her misery. She certainly sets the dogs howling.
the opposite view
I've been playing it for two weeks, and am now at the stage of wanting to hear 2-3 times every day. I started from a good place having loved Ys, but I think this is a further step up. The rythmn and tone have drawn me in, and the sheer richness of the music, driven by the range of instruments is stunning.
As for her voice ... its fine; maybe an acquired taste, but come on how amy of the artists people like have truly perfect voices - Bowie, Dylan, etc are all acquired tastes.
Great thread this
It has reminded me of how much I like her, so I just ordered her new album from Amazon!
You won't be disappointed
I'd only heard a couple of her songs before, but got the new album and it is PHE-NOM-EN-AL. I want to listen to it over and over, and I think in ten years, I'll still be going back to it and hearing things I hadn't before.
The reviewer in the new issue (can't remember who it was off the top of my head) is completely right when comparing it to deep, complex works such as Grace.
Currants, Tofu, Airports and the bloke in the paper shop
I have an immense dislike for all the above for reasons known to me alone. Would rather concentrate on things I DO like though!
No Harp
Fence sitter
Just to be contrary, I would like to say that I can sort of see both sides of this particular conundrum. I couldn't get into Ys at all - far too intricate, and yes, the voice did get in the way. HOWEVER, there must have been something there as the new album did tweak my interest-gland, and having listened to a couple of tracks, specifically "In California" and "81", I find them both beautiful, albeit a slightly skewed beauty, and I can see precisely why some people are so vehemently opposed to her.
Fence crosser
I couldn't get into Ys at all, but decided to give Have One On Me a shot anyway.
I was still in the doubters' camp until I heard "81" and, particularly "In California".
The latter is just fantastic. It stopped me in my tracks last week and I've hardly stopped playing it since.
For those in the anti-Newsom camp, I'd urge you to listen to the passage, from about two minutes in, which begins "But there is another, who is a little older..." and ends "You cross the border to my heart".
It's only about 45 seconds long, but that passage has it all - a great vocal performance, a beautifully understated arrangement and some magnificently evocative lyrics. Knocked me on my backside and I'm sure it may well do likewise to others who aren't quite feeling the magic yet (my frantic over-selling of it here aside).