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Post by Mr. Atari on Feb 12, 2012 23:51:21 GMT -5
I do all of my demo work on GarageBand. It's definitely no ProTools, but for the flexibility of working on my own (and quickly), I like it. The more songs I record, the more I learn about using the loops so they don't sound like loops, and more mixing tricks to make it all sound less amateurish.
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Post by Mr. Atari on Feb 2, 2012 12:36:26 GMT -5
6. Peacemaker Die
This song wraps up the first side of the album, and it's another doozy. The theme of this one is how whenever someone comes out preaching peace and unity, they get killed. It's mostly about MLK, but the implications are far-reaching. What's particularly effective is that it's written from the point of view of an assassin, or at least a critic of the MLKs of the world. What's even more particularly effective (more particularly?) is how they worked in the audio of MLK's "I have a dream" speech at the end. Another great, great song.
The Music: When I listen to this album as a whole, I get caught up in the flow. Going through it song by song like this, I'm flabbergasted at how incredible the riffs are. One after another, they keep coming at you. For each song so far, I could just write, "The riff is amazing and the harmonies are incredible", and that would just about cover it.
One of my favorite songwriting tricks is the moving seventh, going down chromatically. The way they do it here in the chorus in the harmonies and guitars to create contrary motion under the melody gives me goose pimples. Nuno writes chord progressions that make for great, memorable songs. But he doesn't just write chord progressions-- he writes symphonic melodies over the chords that carry the piece to a different level, and yet his noodling never gets in the way of the song. It's an incredible balance, especially on this album. For proof, just listen to the instrumental break on this song (it starts around the 3:10 mark)
The Lyrics: This song bookends the set that started with "Warheads" and brings the focus back to peace and war. Again, they use a Biblical allusion to drive home their point by twisting the famous line from Jesus' sermon on the mount, "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God" into "Blessed are the warmongers for they shall be called man-made gods." It perfectly encapsulates the attitudes of the bigots and those so aggressively resistant to the non-violence of Jesus, Gandhi, MLK, and others who were killed for their teachings. In "Rest in Peace", Extreme pointed out the flaws in overly-simplistic, jargonistic peaceniks. Here, they point out that the people who understand the true depths of peacemaking will always get resistance, often to the ultimate end.
Favorite Moment: I haven't credited Gary Cherone's vocals that much yet, but he really deserves credit as a top-notch singer. He has a voice that really soars without sounding strained. There are great moments throughout this song, but I really like how Cherone riffs over the chorus at the end.
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Post by Mr. Atari on Jan 29, 2012 20:53:28 GMT -5
5. Cupid's Dead
The show continues with an amazing piece of progressive funk, a standout song on the first "side" of the album. In fact, if not for the final movement to come, this would be my favorite song on the album. The incredible musicianship supports a song that criticizes the press's ability to turn half-truths into depressing news, and also takes a hard look at the world's sad abandonment of hope in finding genuine love, instead turning to cold self-reliance.
The Music: "Cupid's Dead" is the most progressive of the songs here, with a brain-melting instrumental jam that takes up 2 minutes of the song (starting at the 3:00 mark). It's complexity is easily on par with anything any progressive band ever did, plus it's funky. Before that drool-inducing section arrives, however, the song has already worked through one of the best riffs you'll hear in your life. Bonus points because bassist Pat Badger matches Nuno on every note. In fact, his chunky bass lines are all over this one; they're worth listening to all on their own here. He's also an incredible harmony vocalist. All hail Pat! There is a dumb voice-over right before the jam and a rap at the end that has early '90s metal-rap written all over it. On repeated listens, though, it doesn't sound so bad. The rest of the music is just too good.
The Lyrics: The main idea here is an indictment of the media: "Three sides to every story: Yours, Mine, and Monday morning's." But then they mixed in the idea of Cupid's apparent suicide, which becomes an indictment of cynics who've given up on love. "The arrow that once pierced my heart points to the apple on your head." It quotes Shakespeare ("O Romeo..."), and then implies that we're too sophisticated to believe in such simplistic ideas of romance. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I get a sense of Nietzche's famous quote in the title, and I think Extreme finds that idea very sad.
Favorite Moment: The instrumental jam. Ooohhhh, that jam. Good grits, that.
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Post by Mr. Atari on Jan 28, 2012 15:56:23 GMT -5
Does the theory involve The laundry truck? Moffitt said the answer is obvious somewhere in the episode. Obviously, Molly is in on the fakery. But I wonder about the hanging dummy at the beginning of the episode. Is there some clue in that seemingly throwaway conversation? And what about the rubber ball? I know some have speculated that old magicians used one pressed in the armpit to simulate a lack of pulse.
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Post by Mr. Atari on Jan 27, 2012 23:15:27 GMT -5
This thread needs more Merritt Stone.
Seriously, great work guys. It was fun!
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Post by Mr. Atari on Jan 27, 2012 16:25:06 GMT -5
Robert Hegyes, who played Juan Epstein on Welcome Back Kotter died today. A note was found in his room. It read: Dear Mr. Kotter, Juan can't take the test today, on account of he's dead. Signed, Epstein's Mom
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Post by Mr. Atari on Jan 24, 2012 18:17:48 GMT -5
Okay. This thread has had some good discussion, but we're way too deep in the minefield for this particular board. Take it to Observer's Brain if you want to continue.
Thanks.
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Post by Mr. Atari on Jan 24, 2012 16:35:20 GMT -5
Amazing! #8 is finally found out! Yes! That's John McKay, the lead in Rocket Attack USA. That's an altered screencap from the movie The Dead One, which he did with RAUSA's director Barry Mahon in 1961. (I cut away the picture of the zombie hiding behind the stairs, because I didn't want that being what enabled someone to identify McKay) Wow. I was just throwing that out there on a whim. There's no way in a million years I would have known that except that I happened to watch that episode last night. What are the odds? (With 198 episodes, the odds would be 198 to 1, I guess.) And #12 looks like he has the small, girlish facial features of the pasta-throwing dickweed in Zombie Nightmare who grew up to be a huge Hollywood director, Shawn Levy. But that picture looks way too old to be him.
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Post by Mr. Atari on Jan 24, 2012 15:49:35 GMT -5
Is #8 an older, fatter version of the lead in Rocket Attack USA? I was watching that last night and thought of this thread.
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Post by Mr. Atari on Jan 24, 2012 15:38:22 GMT -5
Finally! I was wondering if I was going crazy. I can't assert for sure whether it's a fake beard, but it's definitely Coleman Francis. One more point for you! BTW, the element that I was referring to in my previous post was that the picture was in color, despite being taken in 1956, years before Francis' appearances in the "older looking" movies that were on MST3k. Your comment about the other element made me wonder about the hair, so I pictured #18 bald and thought, "Holy crap! That's Coleman Francis!"
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Post by Mr. Atari on Jan 24, 2012 10:13:09 GMT -5
Is #18 Coleman Francis with hair & a fake beard?
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Post by Mr. Atari on Jan 24, 2012 3:07:21 GMT -5
Okay, it's probably the beard that's throwing us off, but I'm going to stick with it. Is #18 the Santa Claus captain from Space Mutiny?
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Post by Mr. Atari on Jan 23, 2012 12:16:05 GMT -5
Is that the head in a box, Robin Hughes, from The Thing That Couldn't Die?
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Post by Mr. Atari on Jan 22, 2012 15:35:37 GMT -5
So now I've watched all 3 of Series 2, and I REALLY need to talk to someone about how the last one ended.
Please tell me someone here has seen it. Anyone?
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Post by Mr. Atari on Jan 22, 2012 15:22:20 GMT -5
I wonder if we're the only two people participating on this thread. Maybe, but I love it. This is a great thread.
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