That's an endless irrational journey. I had a carpooler (IT programmer) once for over a year and our deal was I could play any music I liked on our daily journey to work and back, just like before. He didn't own any music himself (can you imagine ?), and started analyzing the music I played, counting things etc. It took some convincing to have the guy switch off the logical side of his brain and just enjoy the music. I got him to like Solomon Burke.
Random Brainwave, a bit of a throwaway due to its brevity, but they pack a hell of lot of elements into it. My ranking of the albums so far: Sheet Music 10cc L The Original Soundtrack Freeze Frame Deceptive Bends How Dare You! Thinks School Stinks Consequences Bloody Tourists
I Pity Inanimate Objects This is among my favourite tracks on the album. The track is based of a fairly simple one chord arpeggio, with a walking bassline and the layers on top are constantly surprising. The lead guitar sound is astonishing .... whenever I hear it I just think "I wish I had got a sound like that at some point during my recording life. It is like a knife through a silk curtain with an underlying sound of a chainsaw ... it is a remarkable sound, that I assume has some effect on it that I am not overly familiar with. The interplay with the vocals is great. Now the vocals .... Way before Cher made believe, these guys were playing around with auto-tune right here, but they weren't trying to cover up the sound of a cold (or whatever the official word on that was) This vocal gives the effect of a computer breaking through the diodes resistance and trying to become human.Which in light of the lyrical content is beautifully apt. No laughing ... but I actually used to actually pity inanimate objects, yes, I really did.... I have a strange mind, but anyway, enough of my psychological shortcomings. I love this lyric. I also wonder if this may have actually been another slight dig at Stewart and Gouldman, suggesting that they weren;t moving in their musical lives. The other thing is possibly that they may well have been stating the exact opposite, that they pity those that are inanimate, because they have such fun being constantly moving. We get some nice slabs of synth also (unless it is gizmo... I am very poor at picking that) The rhythmic section that leads us out of the song is fantastic. Sure this isn't everyone's thing, but I reckon it is fantastic.
As I said before in the album intro, Inanimate Objects is my favorite G&C track ever. There's an actual psychological condition where people give inanimate objects human traits and think they have feelings and emotions. It's a symptom of super-empathy (of which I have) although I never wondered if the spoon I was using was disgusted being in my mouth. The entire song is like a car wreck that you can't help but stare at. It captures your curiosity but it's ugly as hell. I like Mark's observation that the auto-tune effects are akin to a computer straining to be human, that's rather astute and really fits the concept of the track. The guitar work is unique and exciting and the repetitive backing track really adds to the total feeling of the song. I have a really good friend who likes very strange music and counts G&C as one of his favorite groups, and he's about the only other person I know that can tolerate this track.
Yea, most folks that I have played this for just look at me like I need some form of outside help lol .... and to be fair, they do know me pretty well hahaha
I found the vocals very annoying when I first got the album, maybe the last few decades of auto-tune have made them easier to take. I'd be interested to hear an early version with the non-manipulated vocals, if such a thing exists any more.
I must confess, "I Pity Inanimate Objects" is my least favorite track on this album and maybe my least favorite thing G&C ever did. However, this album also contains my favorite thing they ever did, but we'll get to that one eventually.
I Pity Inanimate Objects I really admire the boldness of the track. It sounds like Max Headroom stuck in a computer doing a song for the Consequences album over a hypnotic acoustic guitar. Lyrically, I too wondered whether they were a gentle dig at their former partners.
Inspired by this thread I picked up a copy of Tenology yesterday. Have to agree with all the comments on the mastering - it's the best the tracks have ever sounded.
Freeze Frame This is such a great song, and so very different from what we have come to expect from Godley and Creme at this stage. This has a grinding part pop, part rock sound and feel, and it may be the most commercial song the guys had recorded at this stage. I think to some degree this song is so effective due to the way this album is expertly sequenced. Sure we have the slightly bizarre interlude, that I absolutely love, but the rest of the song is just such a beautifully crafted moderate pop/rock. I also find it interesting that yet again we have references to and airplane crash. I wonder if the touring and commitments had given the guys a bit of a phobia regarding air travel. Lyrically the guys reference a lot of stuff here, even their own Neanderthal Man single from the Hotlegs days. I can't completely wrap my head around the lyrics, but it seems somewhat like a song about bi-polar disorder.... the references to going up and down seem very much related to that horrible inability to control mood stabilization, and the Freeze Frame seems to relate to the want for the constant flowing of up and down to stop. I love these lyrics, and I find this music and ideal companion to them. Love this song and it is a really important part of the flow of this album, and also one of the reasons I love this album so much.
Freeze Frame has that pounding rhythm so prevalent in Neanderthal Man. After the weirdness of Inanimate Objects, a totally accessible song like this is good balance to the listening experience. I didn't make the bi-polar connection, I thought it was about a guy who's brain just runs faster than he can process and wishes he could just stop time like a photograph. I'm very familiar with bi-polar disease, and how they think and reason and Mark's point is a valid one.
One of my favourite Godley & Creme songs, and another technical production marvel - I love the part where the backing is 'frozen' at the 'I asked my mum...' vocal.
The reference to the 1958 Munich air crash must be among the most off colour moments in the G/C or 10cc catalogues... I could be wrong, but I’m assuming G and C were Man City fans (hence them working on the Man City single) and that this line was intended as a bit of a sick dig at Man U ...
Freeze Frame This has a new wave prog rock feel to it via its distinctive pounding riff. I like the soaring up and down musical turbulence of the melody reflecting the impressive lyrical themes. Sure the Munich Air Disaster line is not clever by today's standards but this was 1979 when no one would blank and eye at off colour jokes like this.
Clues At the very start this sounds like it could be off Consequences, but then we move into a really nice harmony guitar riff, that sounds great. This is a list lyric, and I guess these items on the list are the clues. It is as if some police type person is mulling over these in their head. We have again a certain amount of stomp in the music. I like the riff underneath, and I like the way the layers work with it .... for me at least, this track is actually really catchy, especially for a track that seems to really be written as anything but catchy. For me this keeps the level of this album up, and I love those harmonised guitars.
I've been away for a couple of days, here a short catch up: Random Brainwave - perhaps the best track on the album, yes, right now I actually think it is. I Pity Inanimate Objects - could be the worst track on the album, I find the vocals annoying. Freeze Frame - best melody on the album but a bit overproduced sound Clues - good track, a bit Consequences sounding.
Freeze Frame is a wonderful album. "Clues", "I Pity Inanimate Objects" and "Brazilia" are my favorites.
Freeze Frame, my first G&C album. Such a crazy and fascinating album to listen to. Love 'Englishman', '...Objects' 'Clues' & the title track. Brainwave, I sort of like, mostly for the 'hip-hopish' breakdown of the word 'PERSONALITY'
