Grant-Lee Phillips, for instance.

Songs like "Lily-A-Passion" I really want to like. But so much polite shininess is all over it. It needs more celtic, more James/Waterboys caterwauling, more gruff gumpahdah or something.

There's lotsa artists like this. Finn Brothers, for instance. Love their songs. Want them to shake off the polite a little bit.

I think there must be a medication some of these singer-songwriters can take to cut down on this silky-nice.

This medication is called AGE. The Finns are in their mid-50s. What do you expect them to be like, angsty hormone filled teenagers?

No, that's not what I'm getting at. My favorite act is The Blue Nile. I listen to The Durutti Column and Cocteau Twins, for goodness sake. I don't mean I want them to be Good Charlotte. I want the production to be less exact and pristine and more interesting. More unique arrangements, more interesting instruments. Finn Brothers were probably a poor comparsion, because I actually really like them, but there are hundreds of Jonatha Brooke-type people who could really, really do with a run up against Shane MacGowan or someone.

Sinatra always had an edge and a heart
Waits keeps getting more and more strange
Cash sang with grit and pain

i know excactly what you are saying . . . they don't have to be angsty, but you don't have to stop being powerfull.

I'm with 'spoon on that very same complaint against Grant Lee Phillips. I still remember hearing Grant Lee Buffalo's debut album and being blown away by this dude that conjured up John Lennon and David Bowie (with Mick Ronson) in a vaguely alt.country context. It was a sound that was exciting and filled with promise - and yet he's taken that promise and buffed it to such a high gloss finish that all the personality's been erased. The days of Fuzzy and Mighty Joe Moon seem far, far away.

I have the same complaint, to a lesser degree, with Patti Scialfa. That woman could put out a masterpiece if she used The Wild, The Innocent, And The E Street Shuffle as a template instead of Tunnel Of Love.

Um... REM?

Lately, yeah. Still love the lyrics, still love the voice, still love the intent. In fact, still like the newer albums. But the ineffable otherness went walking with Berry.

Well, that's true for Phillips too.

What about U2? Tricky? Liz Phair?

Stung. Err, Sting.

fp

I was gonna say that too, but I was afraid people would yell at me.

Didn't seem to slow Iggy down too much.

Tears for Fears

If not the adult alternative then at least trim the prog rock sheen a bit....

i didn't have a clue that the Finn Brothers were known in the states. But yes, they would benefit from a little bit of immaturation. Then again, crowded house weren't exactly young and hip, so even when neil finn was young, he wasn't....does that even make sense?

one of the best song titles ever. . . "sting cannot possibly be the same guy that was in the police" courtesy of atom and his package.

c.

Yes, but again, my point wasn't that I want them to sound immature. I want them MORE mature. As in a little more world-weary and experienced-sounding, more grit and less glossy. Still, the Finns are way far above the pack when it comes to this sort of professional adult pop thing.

To take a really old fart example:

Compare Rod Stewart's "The Killing Of Georgie" to "Forever Young." Apply to all adult alternative acts. The first will always win with me.

Probably could have been clearer in the thread title. By "adult" I meant the radio format, not actual artist age. I'm a big fan of mellow, but I like eccentric mellow (like Iron & Wine) or beautiful-sad mellow (like The Blue Nile or Dead Can Dance). Earmest mellow that's super-polished leaves me wishing the performer had cracked head with the producers more. Makes me not dislike the artist or the songs so much as the production.

yeah yeah i know what you meant, i just thought immaturation sounded kinda witty....no? ahhh forget it.