austin reviews the post-boomercore canon.

i don't know what i'm doing, btw.

so what the hell is this? i initially started to conceive of what i now refer to as "post-boomercore" during my tenure at tower records and my first real interactions with that sort of "YOU ARE HERE TO HELP ME" stock/cliche baby boomer philosophy. the music those kind of people liked was basically everything i hated. vaguely idealistic and grossly overwrought and overplayed is how i would sum it up. to oversimplify, it was not springsteen (who i already don't like), but rather springsteen-inspired, if that makes any sense. but also super boring (if that wasn't already implied). and i was well into my mid-twenties by that point, so i was very stubborn about what i did and did not like. growing up as a hiphop kid, i ignored mainstream music and wore that as badge.

so i missed out on a lot of pop music. it's not my thing now and never has been, but i've reached a point where i feel like i can maybe salvage some kind of tangible thoughts about some, *ahem*, major works. time to take occasional breaks from shoegaze and classic r+b and see if i missed anything worthwhile. yes, this is my first time hearing these albums in full.

so, here's how it works: i'm just going to pick something i know of that i consider "post-boomercore" and do a track-by-track style review. i'll pick a favorite track. overall rating, maybe.

to start things off, we're going to go with paul simon's intended blockbuster _the rhythm of the saints_ from 1990.

https://img.discogs.com/Sd7GMXC3kOlexgZuo4ZmHlb3VOo=/fit-in/600x599/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-15933923-1600466126-6550.jpeg.jpg

1. "obvious child"
is it supposed to sound like zydeco? i mean nothing against zydeco music, not my thing or whatever, but if i was going to listen to ZYDECO MUSIC, i'd make damn sure it wasn't an attempt by paul fucking simon. i mean, it sounds fine. but this is perfectly emblematic of the problem: look how cultural i am, buy my concert tickets and sing along to my idiosyncratic music!

2. "can't run but"
what even is this? starts out like pet shop boys on quaaludes, but then turns into a shitty plod of a king sunny ade imitation.

3. "the coast"
the intro sounds like durutti column. i'm officially getting tired of the percussion backing. i mean, it's inoffensive and competent but how does it still feel so stiff and mechanical? oh right, it's a paul simon record.

4. "proof"
oh lord, we're not even halfway through it and my patience is already gone. i don't even remember what the first song sounds like anymore — and i thought i kinda liked that one. boy if that last one was "stiff" this one is downright sterile. from the stupid lyrics to the grossly milquetoast backing harmonies, this is the kind of music that i would still make fun of with pride. yuck.

5. "further to fly"
was this music considered gimmicky at the time? because it should have been. that is, if anyone wasn't just outright ignoring it — which is far more likely, as that's the easiest way to handle it, bar none. good grief, there is nothing memorable about this music except the gratuitous hand percussions. forget the melodies and/or lyrics, because they are absolutely that: forgettable. ugh, that keyboard patch. what a perfect match for simon's vocals.

6. "she moves on"
wow, this is rough. i mean, as background music, it's fine. but like. . . i can't imagine getting in the car for a drive and really wanting to jam out to this album. i'm just so deeply offended by how inoffensive it all is. DO SOMETHING INTERESTING, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. this could be the last song repeating, for all i know. this is like a musical rorschach test.

7. "born at the right time"
I DON'T KNOW, ALRIGHT???? I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S SUPPOSED TO SOUND LIKE. IS THIS NOT THE SAME SONG I JUST HEARD???? WHAT IN THE FUCK DO THESE LYRICS MEAN????? WHY WAS I BORN???? FOR THIS?!?!?!?!!!!??? definitely not at the right time.

8. "the cool, cool river"
i think a cool way to make fun of paul simon is to have this guy who just goes around minding his own business and the lighting is all washed out and pastel, subtly vibrant, and pleasant. the guy is just doing regular things like going into to the store to buy an apple and he'll just be walking along to the produce section, maybe a slight grin on his face while a song from this album plays on the store stereo; he's just doing his thing and it's alright. then he gets jumped by some really jacked up, buffed out screaming guys who have greasy hair and are probably already sweaty before the assault begins. the viewer only continues to hear the song. our protagonist gets beaten to a very bloody death, the gang of attackers angrily finishes up and all walk away without even acknowledging each other. just then, the camera pans over to the display of apples, where we see paul simon, strumming an acoustic guitar and just in time for the line, "the cool, cool river", which he sings as he looks directly into the camera and winks.

9. "spirit voices"
dave's not here, man.

10. "the rhythm of the saints"
"do my prayers remain unanswered like a beggar at your sleeve?" does anyone think this is, like, "deep" or something? jfc, it's finally over.

i've always thought of paul simon as a poor man's version of an actual creative person, and this album does not change my mind whatsoever. i knew what i was getting myself into here, but i thought there would be at least a little more variety. everything is competently played and it's recorded, mixed, and mastered really nicely. but the songs don't go anywhere. and they really do all sound the same: stiff and over-processed. i still think graceland is overrated and boring, but at least there was some variety on that one. this is just not well written music. seems like a classic example of a big budget trying to purposely obscure the shortcomings of the actual product. and yes: this music defines the word "product." blecht.

favorite song: the first one, i suppose. it was a more innocent time when i first heard it an hour ago, so its stink had not yet had a chance to linger. the version of the album i'm listening to has an outtake called "thelma" on it and that's probably my real favorite song because it sounds a little closer to graceland, but it wasn't on the initial album, so it "doesn't count" or whatever.

seems pointless to assign a rating to what it is essentially background music, but i'll try. if starbucks was as ubiquitous then as it is now, i imagine this would have gotten a lot of play. hell, it probably gets plenty of play there currently. so, i officially give this the (very much "INSULT INTENDED") rating of `starbucks approved`©.

i'll need a break for a couple days. i can't fathom having to listen to such lifeless music on a daily basis. i'm hoping to eventually find something worthwhile. so i'm going to look around for my next thing and hopefully try to make an informed pick. yes, i'm open to suggestions.

good album imo

rhythm of the saints is amazing

paul simon taught my son how to play t-ball while i was at work

favorite song: the first one, i suppose. it was a more innocent time when i first heard it an hour ago, so its stink had not yet had a chance to linger.

loool!

i am curious what the next post-boomer classic will be!

refreshingly scathing writeup, I hope you feel better having gotten it out of your system. (fwiw I liked that album)

Do James Taylor's Never Die Young next

Or Don Henley's The End of the Innocence

No, scratch that - can't wait to hear yr take on Bruce Hornsby

I like Paul Simon a lot, and I have never listened to this record, nor do I know any of these songs except "Can't Run But," and I don't even actually know that one, I just know it as "opening music to an NPR show," which is pretty much the perfect encapsulation of what makes you not like it, but anyway, this is just to say that I don't think this is necessarily the kind of thing people who like Paul Simon like ("Graceland" is, though.) Perhaps it is his New Jersey.

The Henley is a good choice but I actually think you should do World Party's single "Way Down Now," which seems to me exactly to capture the "these lyrics are portentious and dumb but a certain kind of music fan is going to respond well to this song." I like it a lot.

would graceland have been too controversial

rhythm of the saints is an amazing album. unconvinced by the criticism on offer itt to revisit this conclusion

this is just to say that I don't think this is necessarily the kind of thing people who like Paul Simon like ("Graceland" is, though.) Perhaps it is his New Jersey.

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, August 26, 2021 1:25 PM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i dont agree. this is the last great paul simon album, and i think that's a pretty widely held belief among fans as well

wow one of my favorite albums, can definitely see it not being someone's thing but struggling to wrap my head around some of your takes, lol

did it become cool to like this colonising scab while i wasn't paying attention? is it vampire weekend's fault?

xp Like Wilde said, criticism is autobiography; I find austin's transparency about this kinda refreshing.

You can take the clerk out of Tower Records but you can't take Tower Records out of the clerk, or something

I assumed "The Obvious Child" was a song I knew because it was a top-20 hit in 1990 but I've never heard it before in my life, don't quite get what about it is supposed to sound like zydeco though, maybe I've been listening to the wrong zydeco

did it become cool to like this colonising scab while i wasn't paying attention? is it vampire weekend's fault?

― Left, Thursday, August 26, 2021 1:37 PM (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

its always been cool to like paul simon ... im sorry youre bereft of an emotional life

it doesnt sound at all like zydeco, but its a funny criticism bc simon does have a song that sounds like zydeco lol xp

POLL paul simon - the rhythm of the saints

here's a good thread on this album

puffin, that's funny my next pick was tentatively going to be the first bruce hornsby and the range album or the first edie brickell album. don henley also a strong choice. i can't really pick right now though. need a bit of a cool off period.

also i didn't go with graceland proper because, as i've come to think of it, "post-boomercore" didn't really fully form until the late 80s. graceland is definitely a progenitor though. "proto-post-boomercore" as it were — keep in mind, there never was any "boomercore" proper. (insert explanation here)

also: ya, the whole point is "guy reviews music he has very staunch prejudices about but the joke is that he's an asshole too."

im actually mystified by the idea that someone could 'blame' vampire weekend for people liking paul simon when the dynamic runs the other way around

ok whatever i blame paul simon for vampire weekend then

i accept this

"The Obvious Child" was "written" the same way as much of Graceland: getting talented musicians from someplace suitably exotic to jam a backing track, which he would then impose his whiny-Boomer schtick on top of. In this case, it was a Brazilian samba-reggae percussion group. As noted I'm not sure where you're getting zydeco. He'd already done a zydeco song ("That Was Your Mother") on Graceland.

The colonizing / appropriation charge is a fair one, of course, and has been exhaustively discussed. But the artifacts are here and one may as well talk about them as they are.

Rhythm of the Saints wasn't meant to be sides three and four of Graceland; it was meant to be a companion or response, with the two albums as bookends. He has said that for Graceland he'd gone to the "land of the voice," and for Rhythm of the Saints he wanted to go to South America, "the land of the drum."

great album, especially side a

here's another suggestion: the Marc Cohn S/T with "Walking in Memphis" on it

I think the string of Bonnie Raitt albums that begin with Nick of Time would also be appropriate, and like RotS they are highly regarded iirc

Good pick. see also Sheryl Crow, Mary Chapin Carpenter. Eric Clapton's August and of course the Clapton Unplugged.

But if you come for Tracy Chapman imma cut u

James Taylor was the first thing that came to mind from descriptions at the top of the thread, especially after all the comments about songs sounding "stiff".

I always felt Taylor was the stiffest white boomer music in existence.

Only because you hadn't listened to enough Dan Fogelberg.

You should tackle one of those first few Sting albums, IMO.

Of all genres of music, which is the most likely one to make people do that thing where they sort of sway and very slowly/quietly clap their hands to the music (off rhythm) juuuust below their chin. Is it this one? I think it might be.

first couple James Taylor album kick ass. Nick drake eat your heart out!

actually just the second one I don’t know the first one. And he doesn’t/can’t play like drake obviously

There's a kind of aristocratic arrogance about this genre of music that we'll never see again. Music slowly pieced together over thousands of hours by dozens of live musicians in several luxurious studios on multiple continents, for an audience that the artiste has reason to believe is awaiting his latest musings on relationships, culture and philosophy.
Paul Simon was in a good position for a 49-year-old "rocker" in 1990. He didn't need to resort to nostalgia (to appeal to the olds) nor pandering (to the youth), and at that point no-one was wondering "where is Art"?
The nicest thing sonically about Rhythm of the Saints is the lack of those shotgun-blast drums that defaced Graceland, but this mellowness can indeed come across as boring. I think the title track is perfect trance music.

Surely the original "boomercore" was the history of Rock Music from the Beatles on Ed Sullivan until the rise of MTV. Then "post-boomercore" would be those musicians returning older and wiser in an alien environment, the late 80s.

This subgenre describes some of my dad's favourites, I would add

Bruce Hornsby and the Range - The Way It Is
Ry Cooder - Get Rhythm
Steve Winwood - Back In The High Life
Bruce Springsteen - Tunnel of Love

Think on balance I feel positively about most of these, though none of them are something I would actually decide to listen to.

Ooh that Winwood album, yes

Clapton Unplugged and Sting Soul Cages would be awesome
Also Paul Simon is brilliant up to/including Hearts and Bones and a wasteland thereafter for me

Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm, springs to mind.

shots fired

you know, i was going to eventually do one of the later joni albums; just hadn't picked which one.

whoever said steve winwood: a winner is you!

i listened to that winwood last night for the first time, just before passing out on a hardwood floor.

i had always thought he was a new age guitar guy for some reason!

Steve Windham Hill?

I love Ry Cooder. 70s records >>> 80s records imo, but I don't feel like he has any blockbusters, or any of the boomer ubiquity this thread is about (looking at you, Sting.)

I was going to suggest Lucinda Williams' Car Wheels as a record that critics and fans rave about that I just don't care for at all, but I think that lacks the big, glossy production, and don't think it fits this canon.

See, if you followed the late-80s/early-90s resurgence of "classic rock," you would know Winwood primarily as a second-tier but beloved 70s creature, and BitHL as a joyous comeback album. He's a pretty good mandolin player and a much-sought-after keyboardist; his guitar work is just okay.

That Robbie Roberston s/t surely qualifies, basically any record with Omar Hakim and all those guys on it.

...or maybe the follow up

Will the thread ultimately grow to encompass Suzanne Vega? Marshall Crenshaw? Just seeking to know the boundaries.

The Robertson is particularly weird, since he's going for a U2 sound on it

Wait, if the presence of Omar Hakim qualifies you for membership in this canon, then why are we not discussing Peter Gabriel?

By this logic, including Lee Sklar, Tony Levin, and possibly even Waddy Wachtel could qualify you for post-boomercore status. We'll have to contend not just with Phil Collins but Stevie Nicks and Linda Rondstadt.

Wasn't Manu Katche Gabriel's 80s/90s guy?

The Rhythm of the Saints was my first Simon album -- talk about a classic Poppy Bush Interzone album in that other kids in high school besides me bought it lol.

"The Cool, Cool River" is my jam.

it is a touch too early for the vibe i specifically had in mind for this idea, but it may also be the only proper boomercore album in existence. and yes, i like that album very much.

Ah, John Hiatt, beloved by aging artists recording during the Poppy Bush Interzone. Even his songs have mullets.

Tina Turner - probably too early
Peter Cetera - I think this fits.
Jefferson Starship - Knee Deep in the Hoopla is probably too early as well.
Don Henley/Glenn Frey solo albums

Not a boomer, but boomers fell hard for the Tracy Chapman solo album.

The Little Feat albums, and that Poco one with "Call it Love", for sure!

As corny as this may sound, for those of us in our early teen years, the wave of Poppy Bush Interzone-era releases by Boomercore artists within and outside of their proper bands (A Momentary Lapse of Reason/Amused to Death, Now and Zen/Manic Nirvana/Outrider, Flowers in the Dirt/Traveling Wilburys, Primitive Cool/Talk Is Cheap/Steel Wheels, The Iron Man musical/Rocks in the Head, American Dream, the Yes reunion, and that's just a few of them) was exciting because it felt like we were provided our own version of the Floyd/Zep/Beatles-era, etc. Beyond that, you also had the LZ box set and The Doors movie as huge cultural phenomenons.

These records must have been viewed as a lifeline by classic rock radio stations, who had to have been pressured by advertisers to mix some new sounds into their stale playlists, yet feared that their audiences would not embrace newer artists. Luckily, many of these records feature the Boomercore musician venturing into (at least some of) these newer sounds and styles, at various levels of success.

Not a boomer, but boomers fell hard for the Tracy Chapman solo album.

― Taliban! (PBKR)

yes, yes they did.

I worked for most of the 90's in a bakery run by five 100% boomers who were an owner/manager collective, I am intimately familiar with this aesthetic

Ah, John Hiatt,

MOVE OVER, STEVE WINWOOD

a the aforementioned bakery, in the back production zone, Sting, Simon, Winwood, Gabriel were the ones in really high rotation, along with U2, REM, and other boomer-adjacent college rock

then I would come in and play the Beastie Boys or The Ex and piss them off, and this other dude would rock like Peter Hammill solo LPs. good times.

yes, that's definitely my next pick. which album? i think of the year 1990 as peak post-boomercore, so maybe his album stolen moments? i just checked him out on discogs and that immediately jumped out to me. also HOLY HELL HE RELEASED HIS FIRST ALBUM IN 1974????? and he just released a new record this year??? how did i forget about him so completely when his existence used to anger me just as completely?

oh yeah, this is gonna be fun.

sorry xpost to alfred/myself there.

sleeve you sound like the preferred coworker in that scenario.

I saw John Hiatt live in 1987 or 1988. Robert Cray opened.

The first Hiatt album used to get airplay on the FM rock station in my city, back when it was much more free-formatted and hippie-driven. He sings in an odd Randy Newman/Leon Russell/Kermit the Frog voice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1DatcCx_zU

not sure if i get this whole thing. is that robert plant / allison krauss album a late addition to the canon? how about the buena vista soundtrack? does eva cassidy fit in here somewhere? am i vaguely on the right track or not quite?

tracy chapman doesn't deserve the company but i guess things don't have to be bad to qualify - i don't really hate anything i mentioned, or everything that has been mentioned above. there's something indescribably offputting about the vibe when you put it all together though

Hiatt has to be one of those rare performers who was both a "New Dylan" and a "New Costello".

I saw John Hiatt live in 1987 or 1988. Robert Cray opened.

― but also fuck you (unperson), Friday, August 27, 2021 2:21 PM

legend.

also, yeah post-boomercore -as i think of it- is still ongoing. it's just not as huge mainstream popular as it once was.

Hiatt has to be one of those rare performers who was both a "New Dylan" and a "New Costello".

― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, August 27, 2021 2:40 PM

omg, shut up and take my money already!

genuinely excited about this.

To Left:

In the original post, the criteria include

vaguely idealistic and grossly overwrought and overplayed

Krauss and Eva Cassidy, like Richard Thompson, don't seem to reach the popularity threshold for the category.

But I would have said the same about Hiatt! I don't remember widespread airplay of his recordings; for me he was just the guy who wrote "Thing Called Love."

I think Now and Zen was pretty popular, as was Honey Drippers.

just realized you can essentially find the entire canon of this aesthetic if you look at the grammy noms for album of the year in the era in question. from 86-95, we see

2 collins
3 stings
2 simons
1 gabriel
2 winwoods
3 raitts
1 henley
tracy chapman
2 claptons
kd lang ingenue

among others that might qualify. could we just call it poppy bush interzone grammycore?

Interesting that Stevie Wonder sat out nearly this entire era, unless you count the Jungle Fever soundtrack.

Not long ago I listened to a triple LP called The First Great Rock Festivals Of The Seventies that had live recordings from the Atlanta Pop Festival and the Isle of Wight Festival, and there's a song on there by Leonard Cohen. I was only familiar with Cohen's late 80s-and-beyond synths-and-sepulchral croaking stuff, but this sounded like a drunken hillbilly singalong with banjo and fiddle and he was belting out the words in this high, clear voice and I thought, no wonder this guy got laid all the time if this was what he sounded like.

Hiatt is grossly overwrought -- he sings like his mouth is a hernia

Interesting that Stevie Wonder sat out nearly this entire era, unless you count the Jungle Fever soundtrack.

― Halfway there but for you, Friday, August 27, 2021 2:56 PM

you don't say.

https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/mobile/000/023/180/notsurprisedkirk.jpg

also i know how i sound at this point, BUT-

leornard cohen : post-boomercore :: the stooges : punk

so yes.

There's a film of Cohen's entire Isle of Wight performance, he is credited with subduing what was described as a terribly unruly crowd.

THE Charlie Daniels was in his touring band then!

This thread just gets worse and worse the deeper it goes

Bowie was doing Tin Machine in this era which kinda fits and kinda doesn’t

Same with Iggy’s Brick by Brick—which features a John Hiatt cover

Brick By Brick totally belongs in this thread — Iggy's bid for respectability. (It worked; Rolling Stone liked it a lot.)

I think 1989 was more likely peak boomercore. Look at some of what came out: Mystery Girl, End of the Innocence, Full Moon Fever, Nick of Time, Flowers in the Dirt, Steel Wheels, The Other Side of the Mirror, Spike, New York, World In Motion, The Iron Man, Still Cruisin’, Trash, Tin Machine, Pump, A Foreign Affair, Oh Mercy, Freedom, Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind, Stormfront, Built to Last, Journeyman, …But Seriously

The original Jefferson Airplane also tried to come back with a new album in ‘89 but it didn’t really click.

Thinking about these dudes all seriously glaring at me from the cover of Musician magazine.

xp: oh yeah, we know all about that one.

most wtf lyric in Jefferson Airplane's "Planes"

I'd think for an artist that was new during that era that kinda fits would be perhaps Melissa Etheridge.

Debut produced by Niko Bolas...including (wait for it) Waddy Wachtel.

Among his most notable production works are Neil Young's This Note's for You, Freedom and Living with War, Warren Zevon's Sentimental Hygiene, Steve Perry's first solo album Street Talk, and Melissa Etheridge's debut self-titled album.

i don't think richard thompson has ever had a gold record in america
cohen has 3 - 2 greatest hits comps and the first album

Also that year:

Tracey Chapman - Crossroads
John Lee Hooker- the Healer (with Bonnie Raitt, Carlos Santana and Los Lobos)
Stevie Ray Vaughan- In Step
A Black and White Night
The Seeds of Love
Let Love Rule
Heart Shaped World
Anderson Bruford Waksman Howe
Cher- Turn Back Time
Alannah Myles

1989 that is

I saw Alannah Myles open for Robert Plant

Etheridge fits definitely.
Indigo Girls maybe.

I feel like Trash and Tin Machine are both outside of this aesthetic. They're respectively trying to appeal to a younger hair-metal or alternative crowd and don't have the boomer dinner party atmosphere of most of the others.

1989 was also the year of Pete Townshend's musical Iron Giant (another entry for the list of boomer-idol side projects at the time)

Erg, already mentioned as Iron Man

She was never popular enough but “People Have the Power” by Patti Smith fits the description pretty well

This thread just gets worse and worse the deeper it goes

― xheugy eddy (D-40), Friday, August 27, 2021 4:48 PM

for contemorary post-boomercore, i highly recommend the new john mayer.

It was kind of fun to listen to that once just because on certain tracks they really did a good job of mimicking this era's production. Didn't have any songs though.

see also: St Vincent Daddy’s Home

I wonder if the Neville Brother's 'Yellow Moon' would fit in there.

It should. Also: Aaron's solo albums Warm Your Heart and The Grand Tour.

...and he covers John Hiatt on the former set!

Kind of an adjacent thing would be those '90s Buddy Guy comeback records, starting with Damn Right I've Got The Blues.