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Date: Wed, 8 Sep 1993 17:02:03 -0700 (PDT)
From: Stewart Evans <stewarte[at]-remove-sco.COM>
Subject: Distressed Gentlefolk
->From: Naggi Asmar <naggi[at]-remove-sbphy.physics.ucsb.edu>
->I'm not too surprised at Pat's dislike for this record. It was already
->obvious in David's '89 interview. I think the things about the JBC that we
->appreciate are not not necessarily related to the reality of the JBC. It all
->depends on your viewpoint, of course.
->This happens a lot anyway ( Richard Thompson hates "Small Town Romance", a
->highly acclaimed record).
Seems to me the musicians involved are always going to have different
perspectives on the album than the rest of us. Some of that is outside
of the music itself (they were depressed, the producer was a jerk, etc.)
but some of it has to do with their intent and how well they feel they
achieved that. So the JBC (just f'rinstance) may think that some album
isn't nearly as good as it should have been because it isn't noisy and
raucous enough, wheras listeners might say "what a great pop album". We
really have no way of knowing what it was supposed to be like.
Julian Cope made his masterpiece, "Fried", at a time when he was apparently
very depressed and fucked up. I certainly wouldn't wish another period
like that on him, or anyone else. However, since his life got better I've
lost interest in his music. Interviews I've read with him indicate that
he's not that fond of "Fried" and thinks his later stuff is better.
Based on Pat's auto-discography (which, by the way, is both a nice idea --
anyone remember when Trouser Press used to feature this kind of thing? --
and also offered a lot of interesting perspectives. Thanks to Pat and
to David for typing it all in) (what a long parenthetical THAT was!)
Anyway, based on Pat's auto-discography I'd say that I think much more highly
of "Scandal" than he does. I can understand why he might feel a bit
embarrased about it, but there's no reason I have to.
