Re: Alejandro (was: need info)
geez, Junior, don't go gettin' all apologetic on me, ya wuss. for the record, there are many Escovedo moments i find unconvincing too. much less so in a live setting, and i think the live record is a lot more listenable than his studio albums, but, yeah, a lot of the time there's a sort of monotony there. ... my point was that i don't think there's anything wrong with someone seeking support to do more ambitious work. "seeking institutional validation" seems to me a specious accusation considering the kind of music that Escovedo plays; frankly I think he'd be playing his songs with much more straightahead rock instrumentation and more self-consciously Hispanic signifiers if he wanted that - he could easily work in the Los Lobos vein, but instead he makes very individualistic choices in the way he works with different configuraions, strings, etc. the point that the monotony of some of his work might have been a plus to the NEA's way of thinking seems pretty valid, though. carl w.
Re: Terry Allen (was Re: Alejandro (was: need info)
On Fri, 12 Mar 1999, Terry A. Smith wrote: Yeah, I know this is songwriting analysis 101, but I just cringe to hear AE thrown in with the pejorative "snooze-rock guys" phrase. Or "overly polite and artsy." Well, anyone who covers the Stooges probably isn't too "overly polite."g I was referring more to the likes of Bruton and McMurtry. I picked up Terry Allen's re-released double record -- two of his earlier records combined as a double CD -- a couple years ago, and was bored to tears. The songwriting was right there, but the tunes were, um, damned slow. This is music we're talking about, not poetry. Not even beat poetry. Pick up the tempo, Terry. Even though they contain a few good songs, those are probably two of his weaker records. Try Lubbock (On Everything) for prime Allen, or more recently Human Remains and Salivation.--don (gettin' ready for another round of on-air begging. Ugh.)
Re: Terry Allen (was Re: Alejandro (was: need info)
Excerpts from internet.listserv.postcard2: 13-Mar-99 Re: Terry Allen (was Re: Al.. by Don [EMAIL PROTECTED] Well, anyone who covers the Stooges probably isn't too "overly polite."g I was referring more to the likes of Bruton and McMurtry. Can someone who covers Kinky Friedman (McMurtry) be accused of being "overly polite"? Carl Z.
Re: Terry Allen (was Re: Alejandro (was: need info)
On Sat, 13 Mar 1999, Carl Abraham Zimring wrote: Can someone who covers Kinky Friedman (McMurtry) be accused of being "overly polite"? Sure, if he smooths 'em out like McMurtry does.--don
Re: Terry Allen (was Re: Alejandro (was: need info)
At 5:36 PM -0800 on 3/12/99, Don Yates wrote: And here's an interesting contrast to the overly polite and artsy "roots rock" types: Terry Allen's an arty Texas singer-songwriter who also just happens to be thoroughly immersed in various roots styles. He does more than just name-check roots music greats in his publicity sheets (a la Bruton) -- his music is identifiably based in country, cajun, tex-mex, etc. There's also an edginess to his sound that's noticeably absent from that of the polite snooze-rock guys. His new album's definitely gonna make some folks uneasy, and others even downright mad. Titled Salivation, the album takes dead-aim at religion, skewering its hypocrisies with irony and irreverence while also demonstrating that Allen's lost none of his ability to tell a powerful tale. Terry Allen doesn't make background music, and thank god for that.--don I dunno, Don, juxtaposing Allen and McMurtry like this doesn't work for me. I haven't listened to the new Allen at all, not being a weasel g, and I've listened to the new McMurtry just once, yesterday in fact, and as background music, so there. Seriously, just as Allen's work is not all prime -- I think more highly of the two albums on the Sugar Hill twofer than I do of "Rollback," for example -- you can't point to a weaker McMurtry album and say, "Well, the guy's no Terry Allen." "Too Long in the Wasteland" is as strong now as it was then. I'd say that, allowing for Allen's decade-long head start, they've got about the same track record. To belabor the obvious just in case, I'm not saying McMurtry's as strong as Allen. I've traveled hundreds of miles to see Terry Allen; I catch McMurtry about half the chances I get. But I sure don't lump McMurtry in with background music or roots music for people without roots (which his first release addressed kind of critically, after all). Bob
Alejandro (was: need info)
Carl: I'm more pissed off that the NEA withdrew their grant to Sub-Commandante Marcos's children's book under congressional pressure than that they validated a Hispanic twang musician's ambitions to stretch out a bit. I figured my remarks would draw some flak, mainly cause Alejandro's generally a fave around here, but in the spirit of P2 frankness went ahead and made them anyhow. On the one hand, I *entirely* agree with you that the NEA flap about the children's book is far more significant and dispiriting. But what I meant by saying the NEA link for this project is "symptomatic" is that the sort of validation they offer--official institutional validation--is something Alejandro's got plenty of already (he's been Austin artist of the year, a certain magazine's artist of the decade, and so on and so forth). More of it arriving in this package is par for the course in this case. Lord knows I have nothing against "a Hispanic twang musician's ambitions to stretch out a bit." Los Lobos, Freddy Fender, Flaco Jiminez, Ana Castillo, Maria Ruiz de Burton, any living relative of Willie Cantu and any number of conjunto and Tejano artists are gods in my house, etc. g So let's not go there It's a taste thing: Alejandro just doesn't do it for me. I'm all for intelligent music, I'm all for all those good things, but this music strikes me as monotonous and boring and self-indulgent. I've seen a good number of his live shows over the past five or six years, put in good listening time, but for me it neither computes nor connects. He strikes me, in my own limited and idiosyncratic world of taste, as a sort of Bela Fleck of Austin singer-songwriters, if I can put it that way. Tremendously talented, virtuosic even, but on a wavelength that doesn't touch me. The aestheticism and artsiness of this music, as I understand it, are in keeping with the current aesthetic of the NEA, which as we know from innumerable incidents, doesn't exactly tend toward edgy, daring, particularly innovative or, god knows, provocative or "dangerous" art of any kind. Just not my cup of tea. Like I say, I may be completely wrong, etc. Ack, clearly I'm tired and grumpy on Friday night. Anyway, Carl, I do appreciate your comments and have just tried to respond on the level they deserve. --junior
Terry Allen (was Re: Alejandro (was: need info)
And here's an interesting contrast to the overly polite and artsy "roots rock" types: Terry Allen's an arty Texas singer-songwriter who also just happens to be thoroughly immersed in various roots styles. He does more than just name-check roots music greats in his publicity sheets (a la Bruton) -- his music is identifiably based in country, cajun, tex-mex, etc. There's also an edginess to his sound that's noticeably absent from that of the polite snooze-rock guys. His new album's definitely gonna make some folks uneasy, and others even downright mad. Titled Salivation, the album takes dead-aim at religion, skewering its hypocrisies with irony and irreverence while also demonstrating that Allen's lost none of his ability to tell a powerful tale. Terry Allen doesn't make background music, and thank god for that.--don
Re: Terry Allen (was Re: Alejandro (was: need info)
And here's an interesting contrast to the overly polite and artsy "roots rock" types: Terry Allen's an arty Texas singer-songwriter who also just happens to be thoroughly immersed in various roots styles. He does more than just name-check roots music greats in his publicity sheets (a la Bruton) -- his music is identifiably based in country, cajun, tex-mex, etc. There's also an edginess to his sound that's noticeably absent from that of the polite snooze-rock guys. His new album's definitely gonna music, and thank god for that.--don I think don may be feeling a little better. Anyhow, I'm wondering if "edginess," as described in Allen's case, stems from him attacking outside targets, such as religion. Edginess can just as easily come from looking inside, and I think Alejandro's done a good job of that throughout his career. Yeah, I know this is songwriting analysis 101, but I just cringe to hear AE thrown in with the pejorative "snooze-rock guys" phrase. Or "overly polite and artsy." I picked up Terry Allen's re-released double record -- two of his earlier records combined as a double CD -- a couple years ago, and was bored to tears. The songwriting was right there, but the tunes were, um, damned slow. This is music we're talking about, not poetry. Not even beat poetry. Pick up the tempo, Terry. -- Terry
