Chris Azure writes:
quoted 5 lines The term "Tour de force" comes to mind.>> The term "Tour de force" comes to mind.
>
> Thanks for the list. I have "Unknown Pleasures", but it sounded a bit flat
> on the first couple of listens (I'll give it some more chances). The rest
> of them I'll check out when and if I can ...
Remember that music has a temporal as well as a spatial dimension.
All music exists in a context that includes time as an important element.
That album which seemed so spiff-o-rama to you 4 years ago might cause you
embarrassed giggles today.
I was 20 years old when "Unknown Pleasures" was released in 1979. It was,
essentially, the Squarepusher of its day (sans the hype (-: ) - i.e. it
took the old (Stooges, Velvet Underground, even a touch of Black Sabbath)
and the then-present (Punk Rock) and blended something totally new out of it
("Unknown Pleasures" along with other albums of that year like Public Image
Ltd.'s "Metal Box" and Siouxsie & The Banshees' "Join Hands" and Gang of
Four's "Entertainment!" essentially blueprinted "Post-Punk").
For me it remains my favorite album (or what other people would say, "Greatest
Album Ever") both because of the musical content *and* the context in which it
fit. Its context was my context. Much as our present-day albums we discuss
on IDM exist in our current temporal context.
I honestly don't have any idea how someone that is roughly 21 today would
react to something like a (nearly) 17-year-old album like "Unknown Pleasures";
given that today's listener doesn't have the same context. It will be
interesting to see what today's pre-schooler thinks of the Nuggets of '95-'96
in the year 2010. Anyone want to predict what will still be revered in
hushed tones come then?
- Greg