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| From | "Michael Bennett" <mrhonorama@hotmail.com> |
| Subject | Brahsense (was Re: The High Dials / Datsons) |
| Date | Tue, 15 Jul 2003 23:19:25 -0500 |
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Since LIFE ON PLANET EARTSNOP was the first derivative album in the history
of pop-rock music, I'll concede that point to you. But I certainly didn't
imply that Bopp was a one-trick pony -- I just noted that he had a constant
melodic sense that you hear on every album -- saying that Badfinger and The
Beatles inform his music is no different than attributing various influences
to artists like Teenage Fanclub, Matthew Sweet and Pernice Brothers (and
probably just as much to The Fall or The Swinging Neckbreakers or Johnny
Cash), all who work with a fairly consistent set of elements, but alter
different aspects of their presentation to keep things fresh. And Oasis
would pretty much fit in that mold too -- it really gets down to how well
you think they manage those ingredients, personality being one of those.
I'm guessing that Bopp's personality never grabbed you on the Love Nut
records either.
Mike Bennett
Record reviews and more at http://fufkin.com
>From: Stewart Mason <flamingo@theworld.com>
>
>At 08:06 PM 7/15/2003 -0500, Michael Bennett wrote:
> >While the Myracle Brah debut disc was very much a spot-the-influence lark
> >(and an incredibly entertaining one), to continue to stereotype them on
>the
> >basis of that disc is plain wrong. I would say that on their second and
> >fourth albums (PLATE SPINNER and BLEEDER), Andy Bopp and his assistants
> >weave in some other elements into the music. The melodies are certainly
>cut
> >from the same cloth as always -- that has always been a part of Bopp's
>thing
> >in Love Nut and MB -- but there are a lot of diverse sonic elements that
>add
> >a gloss that is alternatively psychedelic and modern and find Myracle
>Brah
> >to be a lot more daring, in some respects, than many of their power pop
> >bretheren. Even if one does not like those records, it is unfair to
> >continually paint them as mere imitators, when that is simply incorrect.
>
>While I admit that the later Myracle Brah albums are not as mind-numbingly
>imitative as the debut (which I still hold as the point at which the
>mid-'90s power pop renaissance fell to pieces, because it was an album that
>was feted not on its own merits, but on how much it reminded people of
>other albums), I stick to my opinion that Andy Bopp is -- as you imply
>yourself -- a one-trick pony as a songwriter. I don't like Myracle Brah
>for exactly the same reason I don't like Oasis: their songs sound like any
>number of older, better records, but don't have enough personality of their
>own to convince me that I wouldn't be better off listening to the older,
>better records themselves.
>
>S
>
>NP: REVISITED -- Cowboys International
>
>
>
>
>
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