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the afghan whigs are one of my favorite live bands, ever. greg is a showman.
i first got into the whigs via gentlemen, as i'm sure many of you did also. it is one of my top ten of all time records, and is the earliest record i ever bought that i still genuinely like w/no trace of liking simply for nostalgia value. (you know those records that you wonder, "if this came out tomorrow, would i like it, or do i like it now cos i liked it then?" sorry...another thread.) i was thirteen and the idea that it resonated so deeply w/me then is pretty laughable, as i knew nothing about sex or painful relationships at the time. plus, it just rocks. now i know it's a great sex record, too. standouts include basically every song, but i think "fountain and fairfax" is one of the best songs ever recorded. once, in concert, greg said, as a way of introducing the song, "and this is an intersection in los angeles, called...fountain and fairfax." and i am such a dork that the next time i went to l.a., i found that intersection and my sister and i (she's also a huge fan) took our pictures at it. i can't believe i'm admitting this. of course, "my curse" is beautiful. at first i didn't like it cos it wasn't greg singing (and by "at first" i mean, like, the first six years), but then the song resonated w/me more as i got more, ahem, experienced in some of the things i just mentioned being unfamiliar w/when i first got this record, and i liked it more. also, gentlemen has one of the best album covers ever, ever. recently i looked at it and realized that those kids must be legal now and thought, fuck i'm old.
i like congregation, too, it took me forever to realize that they covered a song from jesus christ superstar, cos it does kinda sound like them, and i didn't know the musical until recently. yeah i don't know how i feel about that cover, but oh well. standouts from that record, for me, include "i'm her slave," "turn on the water," "let me lie to you," and the aforementioned "miles iz ded."
black love never really grabbed me. yeah, flyboy, honky's fucking ladder! that song is amazing. it's a much more depressing album of course. i also like "faded."
my sister quite likes up in it, but it's a little rough for me. "retarded" is so great though.
i love getting ready to go out on a date while listening to 1965. cos it's such a sexy record, as greg said, "guilt takes a backseat to lust on this album." and many sexy records, say portishead records, are kinda downers, and not good for getting pepped up to go out, knamsayin? my fave songs are "crazy," and "66." this is also a good fuck record. i first had the promo version of this album, given to me by a boyfriend that worked at a record store. but i lost it, somehow, and replaced it, but then found that the intro to "city soleil" was different. it is, i swear. oh, and does anyone know what the woman is saying in "sweet son of a bitch," since it's reversed? at least, it seems reversed. i've always wondered.
i saw the twilight singers a month or two ago. great show. they played some whigs tracks, everyone ate it up. i liked the first twilight singers record, but a few tracks are my favorites, names of which are failing me atm. interestingly, i usually prefer songs that rock, esp. dulli songs, but on this record, since it doesn't rock that much, i like the ones that don't rock better. i think i just feel that if yr gonna rock, then rock. if not, then okay. blackberry belle (such the greg dulli title, really) is good, i think i'm liking it better than the first album, cos, you know, it rocks more. (why yes, i am eloquent. in my spare time, i am a music critic.) the word is that greg had written almost an entire record, but when his good friend ted demme died, he scrapped it and came up w/this instead. i hope he decides to release those tracks someday. |
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