i'm seeing a lot of mention/comparisons of arthur russell when reading about the new caribou album. i've always heard of the guy, but never really checked him out. where would one start? i'm grabbing world of echo right now.

i've been listening to love is overtaking me a lot lately. it's more folk, pop, country than his disco stuff.

if XIX was still here, she'd be the one to ask.

jsh to thread.

jsh and pollysix are probably his biggest fans here and I think like all his work.

I find the minimalist instrumental albums to be mostly very boring and even the parts that are somewhat interesting would scratch the same itch for me as jazz and classical music just not as well.

I used to really like his art rock/funk/disco/dub albums though:



The second one there (since the album cover art doesn't have name or album) is Dinosaur L. - 24 24 music.

The last time I pulled either out for a listen. I didn't enjoy them much. I think that speaks more to my change in taste than their general quality if you're inclined to like that style. He's certainly talented.

Beej, I think I've seen you mention twice that your tastes have changed. Does this mean less world more reg. rock?

I'm not real big on World of Echo, and that's all I have. I've been meaning to give something else of his a shot, like that World o Arthur Russell that billy g posted, but I haven't been very motivated.

I never listened to nearly as much world as people seemed to think. At its peak, it was maybe 10% of my listening (which admittedly is still higher than anyone else here) and Rock was always 50%. I now listen to jazz, country and rock almost exclusively and the rock part is mostly classic rock, country rock and more rootsy rock. There's certainly stuff in there that some might call reg rock but I've never cared for a lot of what the hivg might call reg rock (eg lucero, jim jones revue, etc.) Basically, my taste has really mellowed. OHG WEG OLG.

checking out the world of arthur russell right now - that world of echo link was bunk. this is interesting though. seems as though he differs wildly from album to album.

thanks for the upload shiv, i'll check that one next.

In my mind, reg rock is a catch-all that includes classic rock, country rock, and rootsy rock.

i was about ready to delete this sucker after the first 3 songs, then "keeping up" just came on. this is what i was hoping to hear....

i didn't realize this was a compilation including his non-solo works.

Do yrself a favor and watch this.

i just got that from netflix.

yea watch the movie, figure out which era sounds good to you.

I honestly think Love is Overtaking Me is the best introduction point, it covers most of his styles whereas most other collections focus on a specific time period/style.

I can probably upload anything

Wild Combination is definitely one of the top 3 best music documentaries I've seen.

Its a nice 1-2 punch with the Daniel Johnston one.

I'm down with First Thought Best Thought.

Wow. Good memory. I was just admiring shiv's NP.

Yeah, I find it really hard to recommend a "first album" to listen to, because his output is seriously all over the place.

A brief run-down (I was going to say "of what I have" but it seems I have all that's been released so far hum...).
It also gets tricky because most of what's out there are compilations (nearly wrote "complications"), so the dates are all messed up. I mean the guy died in 1992 so nothing's 'new'. Check out the Wiki page for a more detailed discography (http://tinyurl.com/yb3c763) ( I grabbed their discography listing to work from here... but they seem to have missed the Sleeping Bag sessions so I added it.)


* Dinosaur L - "24-24 Music" (1982) : Basically minimal disco (not really my thing, personally)
* The Sleeping Bag Sessions : More minimal disco

* First Thought Best Thought (2006... but includes his albums from 1983-1984): um, instrumental improvised orchestral jazz... including what I'd say are some pretty hefty foreshadowings of post-rock. awesome.

* World of Echo (1986) : highly ambient, minimal "pop"; basically voice and cello processed through insanely executed reverb patches. beautiful but maybe a little difficult to grasp for first-time listeners.

* Another Thought (1994) (comp) : a compilation; more on the folky-pop side of things. I'd recommend this as a good starting place. So really brilliant stuff on here too. "A Little Lost" and "This is how we walk on the Moon" = insanely good.

* Calling Out of Context (2004). (Comp) : another great compilation with a cross-section of his 'pop' songs. a little more on the dancey side than Another Thought. Another good place to start.

* The World of Arthur Russell (2004). (Comp) : a lot of his class stuff that he was known for back in the day. more on the disco/dance side. I think this was the first re-issue to come out, that got people into him.

* Springfield EP (2006). meh, not my favorite. (actually *cough* sold my copy)

* Love is Overtaking Me (2008). (Comp) : his "country" and folk record. can also hear the strong early influence of Modern Lovers.


Hope that helps a bit with sorting things out.

Exactly! That's one of my favourite tracks of his.

"World of Echo" was the first I've heard, and it took my breath away immediately. Cello, voice, echo, rhythm machine - enough! I especially love "Calling Out of Context", and "First Thought Best Thought", aptly titled because the first tracks best the last tracks. Really beautiful modern American composition. "Another Thought" pairs nicely with "Calling Out of Context". I'm not so hot on what you can lump together as disco, but there are excellent moments strewn throughout, and if you can catch the right vibe on a particular listen, your ears will open up to how pivotal and prototypical his music is. The Dinosaur L record I really love because there's a live band element to the disco sound, but I don't find myself going back to Springfield or Sleeping Bag that often.

That Caribou track "Odessa" is extremely reminiscent of Arthur Russell, in my opinion. Immediately so. To his credit, Snaith packages it tightly, and does it more accessibly than Russell ever did (except on "Keeping Up" and the rare track like it). But there's no way it can exist independently. Caribou does derivative well. I'm not sure I've got the Arthur Russell vibe from the rest of "Swim", to be honest. "Odessa" is arguably the strongest track.

also, this is not your typical "minimal disco". way more of an organic feel, without sacrificing any of the gay. definitely a funk undercurrent to that sound.

i still haven't seen that doc, unfortunately.

Do you mean on what I lumped together as disco? If so, looking back it does look a little dismissive on my part. I like the first two, but I guess in trying to sort through the albums and recommend something they kind of fall out of the foreground for me because of the massive shadows cast by some of the other stuff.

"Platform on the Ocean" is really the track that first blew me away. Still does. He's loco.

don't make me fight you buddy.

yah, I figured and hoped someone would fill those descriptions out for me a bit.

in my own defense, once I get describing A.R.'s music, words like pop and disco and folk or whatever kind of take on their own quality and meaning in the universe of his music. guess disco should have gotten its own set of quotes like "pop".

no, totally. i agree pretty much with your opinion of all the albums. maybe i like springfield more than to sell it! and i like the dino l. a third or so of what he does IS "disco", for sure, but i think it could be noted that more than anything else it's the rhythm that makes it disco, with almost no other contributing element.

still. I think you're trying to fight me.

no no love it overtaking me

heh


(typo?)