I went on AJ's Spotify account, scrolled endlessly, stopped randomly, and landed on T. Rex's 1971 album Electric Warrior. Here are my thoughts:
Cosmic Dancer: Basically has three different lines in the entire song and it's just this guy explaining how he's never stopped dancing throughout his life. Maybe I'm cynical, maybe I don't understand the metaphors, or maybe it's both of these reasons.
This song is my reason in a nutshell as to why I've never been a huge fan of music to begin with. Don't get me wrong…..I get music. I get how beautiful it can be; I get it as an art form; I get it as self expression; I get that it's relatable; I get the history behind it; I get that it's a wonderful tool for societies and a unifying experience for people. I get it. But I've never been that excited by a genre, artist, or song. Maybe I'm crazy and missing out on a great thing. It's difficult to explain yourself after you reply "I don't know" to the ever-popular question "What kind of music do you listen to?" Believe me - it's hard to come back after that one.
Kind of like now. This review is obviously a lot less credible now that you know I don't like music (Really, who isn't a fan of music? Sometimes I think about how weird that is and start scaring myself). I can go to a museum any day, but fine art isn't for everyone. But honestly, I don't get how Cosmic Dancer can be listened to and thought of as a good song.
Jeepster - "I'm just a jeepster for your love. You slide so good with bones so fair; you've got the universe reclining in your hair." Not sure what it means, but I can dig it. I liked this one because it's so random, makes no sense at all, but I want someone to serenade me with these lyrics for some reason.
Lean Woman Blues: I stopped what I was doing to check the name of the song, which is a good sign. I enjoyed the song but I found myself trying to rummage through all the instruments just to put together his sentences and figure out what he was singing about. It was all worth it once I heard this line: "I'm like a child in the sand on the beach of the land of you."
Bang a Gong: I was surprised to hear a song that sounded familiar but I'm not sure if this was the song I remember or it was another with the same exact beat (because I have a theory that every band ever has used the same tune).
The rest of the songs kind of bored me. Sometimes I wish I wasn't so cynical.
Am I hopping on the T. Rextasy bandwagon? Nope. Expect for maybe Jeepster. AND I STILL DON'T KNOW WHY.
Admittedly I don't really know too much about T. Rex. (Hopefully a huge T. Rex fan doesn't read this and get angry at the both of us). But I like this album a lot and I probably spent a week or two listening to it on the way to school and work.
ReplyDeleteWhen I listen to a new band I almost always start with their most commercially successful album because it's usually the most accessible for newcomers. Usually I give it a play through and eventually a song hooks me and I explore the rest of the album from there. Then after I've decided that I've got what I needed from that album I either start to feel out which one I'm going to listen to next or move on to a new artist. This cycle can go on for a while depending how well the artist keeps me interested before I move onto something else. Sometimes I end up saving an entire discography, sometimes I only save one album. You may notice this is the only T.Rex album I have saved.
I'm gonna steal your format for a little bit and a couple songs that I want to defend or that you didn't mention.
Mambo Sun
I'm a little hurt that this wasn't included because it's easily my favorite song on here. The bass line is groovy and the guitar solo in the middle has such an awesome sounds to it. Just imagine everyone in the 70's in bell bottoms listening to this and clapping along to the drum beat. I think it's a great song to start the album on.
Cosmic Dancer
I do like this song and I think It might be because of the lyric "I danced myself right out the womb" That imagery alone is enough to make a good song.
Life's a gas
I also think this song is an important part of this album but I really don't have a lot to say about it.
Other than that and the other songs you mentioned I'm really not super familiar with this band. I usually would just let the music play and not pay too much attention to the individual songs.
I kinda want to know what you were doing when listening to this. I think that your environment and what your doing might influence how you end up liking an album. While some albums are meant to be played in a dark room while your looking at the ceiling, other albums are meant to be played while your speeding down the highway smoking a cigarette. If you put too much thought into the song and what it means right away you might end up missing out on the feeling of the music. That feeling is what makes music so much different from any other art form. I might not agree with or even understand the lyrics but the words and how they are sung fit so well with the music that it doesn't matter. Then every once in a while a song comes on that perfectly matches what you are doing or are going through at that moment in time. To the point where you can never listen to it again without it bringing up that memory and because it was so long ago the lyrics now mean something completely different than they used to. And that's when a song stick with you forever, for better or for worse.
I usually like listening to music while driving around. It's probably one of my favorite things to do actually. I always picture that the really important problem solving parts of my brain are focus on driving while my less analytical parts are just enjoying it for what it is. While I use the "important parts" of my brain for other art forms, music always gets pushed to the other side for whatever reason. I think this is why it's so hard for me to describe why I like certain songs so much, I just like them. That's why I don't get upset at people when they don't like a song that I do, they just don't like it. But I'm always going to try to convince them to listen to it just one more time.
Also this song is worth a listen before you completely forget about T. Rex haha https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhQubTEUxsQ
ReplyDelete