{"id":2930,"date":"2010-05-20T07:01:59","date_gmt":"2010-05-20T15:01:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/?p=2930"},"modified":"2010-05-20T07:02:46","modified_gmt":"2010-05-20T15:02:46","slug":"feedback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2010\/05\/20\/feedback\/","title":{"rendered":"Feedback"},"content":{"rendered":"

1.<\/span> Peter Rinker wrote in to tell me that Danger Mouse’s breakthrough project was "The Grey Album", not "The Black Album".\u00c2\u00a0 He, of course, is correct.<\/p>\n

2.<\/span> Brian Koppelman wrote in to tell me that the Hold Steady are the best band in America right now.\u00c2\u00a0 He told me to listen to "Sweet Part Of The City", that it explodes on the third listen.<\/p>\n

I got it on the first listen.<\/p>\n

But I also had to say the guy’s vocal worked against the track.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh come on, I’m not saying his words are bad, but…I am saying they’re bad.\u00c2\u00a0 The final line of this track is ""We were bored so we started a band".\u00c2\u00a0 Now if that isn’t far too inside, if that’s not cliched, what is? Then again, it’s the fifth full set, so I guess they can be self-referential, but…WHO HEARD THE PREVIOUS RECORDS?<\/p>\n

And the reviews of this album are uniformly…disappointing.\u00c2\u00a0 I know, I checked.<\/p>\n

"We’d like to play for you, we’d like to play for you…"\u00c2\u00a0 Even the Boss doesn’t issue lyrics that hackneyed.\u00c2\u00a0 And give the Boss credit, he’s got a sense of humor.\u00c2\u00a0 Come on, how many points do you give Bruce for insisting "Don’t Stop Believin’" close Sting’s Rainforest show? Bruce is one of us.\u00c2\u00a0 Craig Finn of the Hold Steady is not.<\/p>\n

And if you want to hear this same thing done better, check out the Iron City Houserockers’ "Have A Good Time (But Get Out Alive)"\u00c2\u00a0 The title track of that album is better than anything on the Hold Steady record, and it wasn’t a hit either.<\/p>\n

It’s not that the Hold Steady are bad, they’re not.\u00c2\u00a0 I can enjoy them.\u00c2\u00a0 Well, not all the tracks, but…\u00c2\u00a0 The point is, in a world with so many diversions do I CHOOSE to listen to them?\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the challenge bands face.\u00c2\u00a0 Can I not wait to hear your music?\u00c2\u00a0 Is it driving me to my computer, to my iPod.\u00c2\u00a0 If it’s not…it’s just part of the endless morass of ignored music.<\/p>\n

\n
"The Sweet Part Of The City"<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What’s your take?<\/p>\n

3.<\/span> But the reason I’m writing this is because I got e-mail from Ian Montone:<\/p>\n

\n
Hey Bob: <\/p>\n

Thanks for the nice words re Broken Bells.\u00c2\u00a0 As you refer to "Float", it appears you are listening to the leaked, unfinished and incomplete version of the lp.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Let me send you the proper mixed and mastered album tomorrow. \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Best, Ian<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Now that’s funny!\u00c2\u00a0 The version on iTunes says "Float", but…I STOLE IT!<\/p>\n

Now don’t get your panties in a twist.\u00c2\u00a0 I checked the album out on Spotify.\u00c2\u00a0 And, in case you didn’t notice, when you listen online you don’t stare at the player.\u00c2\u00a0 I heard tracks and liked enough of them to the point where I wanted to play them on my iPod, in the mountains. Which meant…<\/p>\n

I’ve got the album on Spotify, Napster and Rhapsody, if you want to give me shit for stealing them I’m gonna tell you to write to Edgar Bronfman, Jr. and have him authorize the American version of Spotify and then you’ll shut the fuck up.\u00c2\u00a0 And I used to be able to play my Spotify tracks on my iPod Touch, but since the service isn’t really available in America, that feature comes and goes, so I stole the record.<\/p>\n

And it turned out to be the leaked version.<\/p>\n

Who knew?<\/p>\n

Who cared?<\/p>\n

What’s the official version.\u00c2\u00a0 In today’s day and age, is it the leaked album or the ultimate collection.\u00c2\u00a0 In other words, what’s definitive? Hell, Grateful Dead aficionados will tell you the ultimate version is the live, unreleased take!<\/p>\n

Boy has listening changed.\u00c2\u00a0 We’ve got files, not physical product.\u00c2\u00a0 And who can even read the credits on physical product anymore anyway.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m paying Broken Bells with my attention, and that’s very hard to get.<\/p>\n

So, either you can try and browbeat people into living into an idealized past, or recognize the future, which is now, and ever-evolving.<\/p>\n

"Float" on the final version of the album is "October".<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, check out this e-mail:<\/p>\n

\n
Bob,<\/p>\n

When a track from Chinese Democracy ("Better") leaked in 2006 – the radio stations that were playing it received Cease and Desist orders from Axl’s attorneys.<\/p>\n

When Axl tried releasing the same song as a single 2 years later – the radio stations ignored it.<\/p>\n

You reap what you sow.<\/p>\n

Matt Grillo<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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1. Peter Rinker wrote in to tell me that Danger Mouse’s breakthrough project was "The Grey Album", not "The Black Album".\u00c2\u00a0 He, of course, is correct. 2. Brian Koppelman wrote in to tell me that the Hold Steady are the best band in America right now.\u00c2\u00a0 He told me to listen to "Sweet Part Of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s96vPs-feedback","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2930"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2932,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2930\/revisions\/2932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}