Re: Another naive listener writes his first letter

[nessus (Doug Alan)]

> From: Mark Woodruff  <WOODRUFF%UCF1VM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU>

> Re: The Top Ten (40? 100?)

> Album sales do not correlate well to an album's quality,
> performance, or musicality.  Unless you have some monetary interest
> in the record, why pay attention to the charts?

Because it's interesting to know what the general populace is
listening to, and what things of high quality the populace enjoys and
what things of high quality they don't.

Because we don't live in a void, and it's good to have a better
understanding of one's culture.

Because the significance of a work of art is in many ways a function
of the degree of effect it has on the world.  And that is not
independent of the number of people it reaches.

When I see Peter Gabriel or Kate Bush high in the charts, I regain
some of my faith in humanity.  When I see Madonna or Lionel Richie
high in the charts, I lose it.

> Re: Abba

> I've never liked this group, even though Robert Fripp insists that
> they are "very, very good" at what they do.

Well, what does Robert Fripp know!  He can be a real jerk sometimes.
But I guess ABBA must have had some talent, because the songwriters
from ABBA did the music for some recent Broadway play ("Chess?" --
"Another Night In Bangcock" was from it), and the music was okay.
ABBA sucked however.

> Re: Kate Bush

> The "Hounds of Love" album is the first work I've heard of hers.  I
> think she has a good voice, but generally find her songs to be
> pretentious and overly thick with sounds.  Why use 15 instruments,
> or 15 synthesizer sessions, to play a simple three-part harmony?

Because there's more to music than just melody and harmony.  There's
texture, timbre, mood, etc., etc.  And to many people, these other
elements are the most important part.

A lot of people (some who even loved the album) kept telling me that
there was very little music on KB's "The Dreaming", and I never
understood what they were talking about, because that album has more
stuff going on in it than ten of your typical album.  At any one time,
there are always zillions of things going on.  I finally realized that
what these people were trying to say is that it's not an album which
is about *melody* or *harmony*.  Musically, it's about *texture* and
*sounds* and *emotions* and *feelings* and counterpoint of these
elements.  And it's incredible success at this is why it's such an
important album.

> Sure, it must be fun to try to figure out what makes what sounds in
> what song, but this sort of mental masturbation is better done in
> private, than in (rather noisy) vinyl for all to here.

There are millions of people who enjoy listening to Ms Bush "mentally
masturbate", and many of those who enjoy it get a lot out if it, so I
see no reason why it should be done in private.  And several of these
millions are known to have tactical nuclear missles hidden in their
basements targeted for dissenters....

			Terrorism for Better Music,

			Doug