resisting the urge...

[Mike Mendelson <MJM@ZYLAB.MHS.CompuServe.COM>]

Alex Gibbs:
|I personally can't get into this song-by-song analysis, at least not
|at this stage.  I think it's because I'm still forming my own opinions
|or maybe because I'm obsessive enough without doing that!  :) I'm not
|sure.  Maybe it's because I know we will all feel differently anyway.
|Also, something about dissecting it into pieces and actually grading
|the pieces sort of bugs me.  Am I alone in this?

This is a good point and I think it underscores peoples basic need
to categorize, compartmentalize, pigeonhole, and get a "handle"
or control over things.  It happens everywhere.  Our society is rife
with this.  And, I think it is human nature to try to deconstitute 
complex
entities into easily identifiable pieces.  

Take Kate Bush album listening as an example of this.  Everyone
is on the edges of their seats waiting and anticipating the new music.
As soon as it is out, the race is literally on to listen and form quick
opinions.  "Oh boy, I got the album, I listened to it 7 times in 2 hours,
now I can write my song-by-song breakdown and conveniently
know which songs I like, which ones I hate, and I can validate
those feelings by broadcasting to my gaffa peers."

Why, the same thing happens in politics.  Sound-bites.
Quick analysis after the Perot/Gore debate for example.
Before it's even over, the media has decided who won,
who lost, why, and what will happen as a result.

Well, politics is perhaps slightly more quantifiable than
music.  I mean, God forbid I should listen to TRS 20 times
consecutively and *still* not know *exactly* how I feel
about each and every track.  For myself, I know that
each time I hear, I react a little differently, based on factors
to numerous to enumerate: Where am I when I listen?
What mood am I in?  Is it daytime?  Morning?  Nighttime?
Am I in bed?  In the shower?  Eating lunch at work?
Driving to a party?  Leaving a lecture?  We all listen
to music all the time in so many different contexts,
it's impossible to have the same reaction every single time.

There are times when I've listened to TRS and, as a
whole, said to myself, "This album just does not work
for me... it really leaves me cold."  But, then there are
other times I've listened to it, or to parts of it, and said
"yeah those 4 songs in that sequence really work for
me," or "I don't care much for The Red Shoes but
Top of the City is genius," or "Eat the Music is great"
or "it sucks."  It just depends so much.

Now over a continuum of time, these opinions converge,
although I would say never completely.  I am rarely in the
mood to listen to TSW, for example, but on the autumnest
of days, when I'm driving amidst grey skies and swirling
leaves, there is nothing better than TSW.

My impression of TRS, is that it too has a "personality".
I like to view albums like this as a whole, rather than as
a simple collection of songs.  My opinion of TotC is 
already bound up as much in its own strengths as
in my anticipation thereof while listening to TRS,
or even the whole part of the album that precedes it.  

Then again, I had a friend in college who insisted
that people's concentration spans are so slim
that they require constantly changing soundscapes
so as not to get bored.  Thus the advent of 
the LP, as opposed to the once-dominating 45
(single).  And radio, or course, in which stations
now offer rewards to listeners who catch them playing
the same song more than once in a 24-hour span.
I remember sitting pasted to a chair at Wayne's
behest listening to just one song over and over 
for hours.  Hard Habit to Break by Chicago.
Levon by Elton John.  It's amazing how these
songs became a part of me after continued
saturation.  When I hear them now, I still
love them.  How many people have listened
to any of the songs on TRS over and over?
[Actually, I'd be hard-pressed to think of even one
song that I'd be willing to do this for, which I suppose
speaks volumes.  But some songs do work better
in an album context than alone.]  On the other hand,
I'd happily be confined for hours in a room with 
GOOMH playing on infinite loop.

So, in conclusion (:-), I would question the point
of reviewing on a song-by-song basis this early in
the game, and moreover, I would urge people to
*resist* the urge to form compartmentalized, often
trivializing opinions on individual songs when their
merits are so irrevocably bound up in factors
that transcend single-songedness.  Once an
encapulation is made, it is often hard 
(though certainly not impossible) to undo...
even if it is a first impression.

But of course you should all do whatever you want
anyways... :-)  [hope this was somewhat cogent and
coherent]

-mjm