Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 26 to 49 of 49

Thread: Why Is Folks Music Depressing or Maudlin?

  1. #26
    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    7,765
    Quote Originally Posted by Jerjo View Post
    That is a VERY haunting voice. Thanks for this.
    And lip-sunk all in one take. Impressive.

  2. #27
    Something I recommend is the Anthology of American Folk Music compiled by Harry Smith. A lot of "depressing" songs but an invaluable window into the past.

  3. #28
    Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    HAM
    Posts
    491
    Quote Originally Posted by Echoes View Post
    I was (and will) post this in its own topic, but here's a folk singer who might interest a progger. Norwegian singer-songwriter Ane Brun talks about the jazz influence in her dreamy, sound on Echoes tonight.
    yes, she's excellent. saw her at roskilde festival many moons ago – although i’d never have thought of pigeonholing her as folk ... more like downbeat jazzy torch songs, bordering on acoustic trip hop such as morcheeba or portishead and some massive attack – which, thus, suits me just fine.

  4. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by AcousticWalden View Post
    So I guess it speaks volumes that I listen to folk and my favorite prog albums are Lamb and Brave.
    Perhaps.

    The idea that The Lamb is a death dream is something I came up with back when I first heard the album. My interpretation was that Rael actually dies somewhere within the first 10 minutes of the album, and the rest of the album is either a journey through the afterlife (purgatory, perhaps), or a death dream (you ever see the movie Jacob's Ladder? Kinda like that, but much more surreal) depending on how you look at it. But Rael only realizes he himself is dead when he pulls John's body out of the rapids, and realizes it's not John, but himself.

    But like I said, that's only one interpretation. Another is that the whole thing is a dream (the liner notes say the whole story takes place within the blink of an eye, or words to that effect, and dreams are said to last only seconds in real time). And if we assume that Phil was using the phrase "split personality" correctly in his one sentence summation of the plot, then perhaps Rael is a mental patient, and the whole story is a delusion (or as Douglas Adams might put it, "The product of a deranged imagination").

    (and for what it's worth, I've heard one suggestion that if Rael had gone for the vision of NYC he sees in The Light Dies Down On Broadway, then he would have found himself back at the start of the story, and have to live through the whole thing again...along with the suggestion that Rael actually has gone for the vision of NYC, perhaps multiple times, and it's only this time that he realizes he can only redeem himself by attempting to save John)

    Brave I guess is also open to interpretation, but I gather the band intended for the story to end with the girl leaping off the bridge at the end (as she does in the Brave film), and Made Again was tacked on, at the behest of the record company, who wanted "a happy ending".

  5. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by KerryKompost View Post
    One of my favorite lyrics is from the song, "We Are the World": "There are people dying..."
    What a terrible song. I thought Do They Know It's Christmas was a much better, at least it was uplifting (and it apparently unintentionally paraphrases the Doctor Who theme). We Are The World was a frelling funeral dirge (hey, that's alliterative!). And I think it was my mom who said she never realized how terrible Willie Nelson's singing was until she heard that song, and heard him singing back to back with people who better singers.

    As for uplifting music vs. depressing music, I've had enough of the latter. EVERYTHING is depressing these days. TV shows, movies, music. I don't want to listen to songs about people dying, or songs about serial killers or songs about demons or songs about how miserable the singer's privileged life is.

    I wanna listen to songs about fucking, songs about having a good time, and songs based on the Shastric scriptures. If I'm gonna listen to something about demonic possession, false prophets and holy wars, let it be something that ends with the Messiah returning in the night to take his children to the New Jerusalem, followed by one of the high points of Steve Hackett's career as a guitarist (accompanied by a full stage black out and a 1976 era laser sweeping across the concert hall ceiling).

  6. #31
    Quote Originally Posted by philsunset View Post
    Something I recommend is the Anthology of American Folk Music compiled by Harry Smith. A lot of "depressing" songs but an invaluable window into the past.
    I would add the soundtrack to "Oh, Brother Where Art Thou." Yes, there's a lot of gospel, but it's fantastic.

  7. #32
    Boo! walt's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Oakland Gardens NY
    Posts
    5,625
    Two tracks from the record by Davy Graham and Shirley Collins-Folk Roots,New Routes.Check out Davy Graham's guitar.Truly..."beyond category".


    "please do not understand me too quickly"-andre gide

  8. #33
    Quote Originally Posted by mozo-pg View Post
    Count yourself lucky that the wife doesn't like polka music.
    Polka music is lot of fun...few beers, ladies, dancing floor....that reminds me that it is Octoberfest time!!!

  9. #34
    Quote Originally Posted by Echoes View Post
    I was (and will) post this in its own topic, but here's a folk singer who might interest a progger. Norwegian singer-songwriter Ane Brun talks about the jazz influence in her dreamy, sound on Echoes tonight.
    http://wp.me/pgATL-2jb
    Listened to the show last night. It was the perfect night for it, power was out all over town and I was driving around with the radio on looking for an open store to get some milk. Everything was so dark, and her voice came out of the speakers, and I just kept driving for a while.

  10. #35
    Member since March 2004 mozo-pg's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    9,679
    Quote Originally Posted by Progmatic View Post
    Polka music is lot of fun...few beers, ladies, dancing floor....that reminds me that it is Octoberfest time!!!
    Don't forget the Schmenge Brothers!

    What can this strange device be? When I touch it, it brings forth a sound (2112)

  11. #36
    Quote Originally Posted by mozo-pg View Post
    Don't forget the Schmenge Brothers!
    Legends of Polka music...

  12. #37
    Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Re-deployed as of 22 July
    Posts
    0
    Quote Originally Posted by No Pride View Post
    I guess I can sort of understand how some prog fans wouldn't like jazz but fusion? I never could fathom that and I probably never will. To me, they're un-identical twins from different mothers, but they were born at the same time and they both had the same mission; basically mixing elements of rock, jazz and classical music into a unique stew.
    I couldn't disagree more. I cannot stomach jazz or fusion at all, nor can most rock fans I know. I see no similarity whatsoever between the various forms of jazz and rock music.

  13. #38
    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    7,765
    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post
    What a terrible song.
    How can you not love this???
    There comes a time when we heed a certain call
    When the world must come together as one
    There are people dying
    And its time to lend a hand to life
    The greatest gift of all

    We can't go on pretending day by day
    That someone, somehow will soon make a change
    We are all a part of Gods great big family
    And the truth, you know,
    Love is all we need

    [Chorus]
    We are the world, we are the children
    We are the ones who make a brighter day
    So lets start giving
    There's a choice we're making
    We're saving our own lives
    Its true we'll make a better day
    Just you and me

    Send them your heart so they'll know that someone cares
    And their lives will be stronger and free
    As God has shown us by turning stones to bread
    So we all must lend a helping hand

    [Chorus]

    When you're down and out, there seems no hope at all
    But if you just believe there's no way we can fall
    Let us realize that a change can only come
    When we stand together as one

  14. #39
    Member No Pride's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Chicago, IL, USA
    Posts
    137
    Quote Originally Posted by PeterG View Post
    I cannot stomach jazz or fusion at all, nor can most rock fans I know.
    I'm sorry for those "rock fans." I'm a music fan myself; there's too much great music in all sorts of genres for me to want to dismiss something because it doesn't use this or that instrument or does use that instrument which isn't cool, or doesn't use a simplistic beat, or is sung in a language that I don't understand, or uses too much improvisation, or not enough improvisation, or none of my friends like it, or it's too intense, or too mellow, or... well, need I go on?!

    Rock is the first music that I loved and I still love it, but it's not my favorite anymore. Actually nothing is, I just like music that I think is good and that encompasses a lot of different kinds of stuff. I don't really care if anybody likes what I like, but I do get a little bothered if people are constantly bashing it just because they can't relate to it.

    And btw, just because you see no similarities between rock and jazz, doesn't mean they don't exist.

  15. #40
    Jefferson James
    Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post
    What a terrible song.
    I agree; I just like that one lyric a whole lot.

  16. #41
    Quote Originally Posted by PeterG View Post
    I cannot stomach jazz or fusion at all, nor can most rock fans I know.
    hanging with the wrong crowd, dude

  17. #42
    Member since March 2004 mozo-pg's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    9,679
    Progressive music and fusion are all the same to me.
    What can this strange device be? When I touch it, it brings forth a sound (2112)

  18. #43
    I'm here for the moosic NogbadTheBad's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Boston
    Posts
    10,222
    Same here
    Ian

    Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on progrock.com
    https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-a...re-happy-hour/

    Gordon Haskell - "You've got to keep the groove in your head and play a load of bollocks instead"
    I blame Wynton, what was the question?
    There are only 10 types of people in the World, those who understand binary and those that don't.

  19. #44
    Member Oreb's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Brisbane, Australia
    Posts
    80
    Quote Originally Posted by Splicer View Post
    But act after act, song after song is either depressing, melancholy, downright maudlin or angry about something. Even the faster tempo songs are not entirely uplifting in their lyrical content. Dar Williams epitomizes this music for me. For goodness sake, every song is some sort of tear-jerker reminiscence about her childhood or a lost love or someone who didn't understand her or something I don't understand that seemed to upset her as well. She's not the only one. I have no idea who 90% of these artists are but one after another they come up there and depress me. I just don't get the appeal.
    There's a generation of young wimmin/acoustic singers here in Oz who specialise in that tripe - I'd say the grew up on Joni without really learning much from her, but they are too young for that: sadly I think they grew up on the dreadful Tori Amos and as a result are specialising in making songs out of the sort of stuff best left to brightly coloured exercise-books with heart, butterfly and unicorn stickers on the cover and i-s and j-s dotted by alternately smiling and frowning faces.

    I'm not sure that folk music should be tarred with the same brush.

    Does it matter that this waste of time is what makes a life for you?

  20. #45
    Member Jerjo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    small town in ND
    Posts
    6,432
    I remember that when the soundtrack for O Brother Where Art Thou became big, there was some dissent among bluegrass aficionados about Dan Tyminski's vocals on "Man of Constant Sorrow". They thought he wasn't nearly mournful enough. I saw a quote in a music mag where one said, "it sounds like he's singin' 'Man of Occasional Sorrow'."
    I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart

  21. #46
    Folk genre artists I've gone out to see who are not downers.

    Peter Rowan & Tony Rice
    Martin Simpson
    Harvey Reid
    Brooks Williams
    Geoff Muldaur
    Leo Kottke
    Tony Trischka
    Jerry Douglas
    Sam Bush

    All are superb instrumentalists. None are whiny singer-songwriters.

  22. #47
    Member kenneth8446's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Ottawa, ON, Canada
    Posts
    2
    We have to be careful with our generalizations about any genre of music. Some folk music is maudlin as is some rock. I am not interested in much new music from new artists because I am too busy discovering the music of my youth that I missed when I was young (Comus, Amon Duul). But as a sort of rebuttal to the generalization I give you Billy Bragg's greatest line from his greatest song, Greetings to the New Brunette, "I celebrate my love for you with a pint of beer and a new tattoo". Now that is folk music and it is not depressing in the least.

  23. #48
    Quote Originally Posted by PeterG View Post
    I couldn't disagree more. I cannot stomach jazz or fusion at all, nor can most rock fans I know. I see no similarity whatsoever between the various forms of jazz and rock music.

    Most rock fans cannot stomach most of what we listen to either.


    The question is, why should I care about what most rock fans can stomach?

    And I completely agree with No Pride concerning fusion and prog, "they're un-identical twins from different mothers, but they were born at the same time and they both had the same mission; basically mixing elements of rock, jazz and classical music into a unique stew".
    And if there were a god, I think it very unlikely that he would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence - Russell

  24. #49
    Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Portland, OR, USA
    Posts
    1,865
    Quote Originally Posted by Jerjo View Post
    I remember that when the soundtrack for O Brother Where Art Thou became big, there was some dissent among bluegrass aficionados about Dan Tyminski's vocals on "Man of Constant Sorrow". They thought he wasn't nearly mournful enough. I saw a quote in a music mag where one said, "it sounds like he's singin' 'Man of Occasional Sorrow'."
    In the context of the movie, though, it was supposed to be a hit record. And so T-Bone Burnett - the film's music supervisor and producer of the soundtrack - put together a poppy, uptempo, danceable, deliberately in-authentic version that sounded like a hit record, and almost like a sort of proto-rock-'n-roll. I could imaging Elvis doing it that way, or maybe even Chuck Berry.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •