Antony and the Johnsons?

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Has anybody heard the new record? I've heard a couple songs and it sounds interesting to say the least. Other Music calls it a classic. Any thoughts?

― Antonio DePietro, Wednesday, 2 February 2005 20:05 (twenty years ago)

played it once, found it overwrought but intriguing and well done. I tentatively like it; how much will depend on more plays.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 20:09 (twenty years ago)

Heard it once too. Sounds good, but will have to listen more. The song "Spiralling" seems like my favourite so far!

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 20:11 (twenty years ago)

He's so good live, I am stoked to check out the new album too.

― Drew Daniel (Drew Daniel), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 20:29 (twenty years ago)

This new album was my first introduction to Antony and I love it.
That took a few listens though. I had to overcome a Nina Simone phobia. One could say it's a transsexual Weltschmerz album, on the other hand there's also Hope.

― Ludo (Ludo), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 20:41 (twenty years ago)

i think it's fantastic, much better than the first, even (which was good too). shameless plug, but i wrote about it on stylus, if anyone wants to go take a look. excited to see him at the end of february...

― mike powell, Wednesday, 2 February 2005 20:43 (twenty years ago)

He's amazing live, very funny too. The new album is good stuff. A little less over the top than his selftitled debut but very intense cos of the way he sings and plays piano. It's not a classic but he might have one up his sleeve. and yeah, it's a grower

― Rizz (Rizz), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 20:46 (twenty years ago)

I checked it out on a listening station (I had originally planned to just go ahead and buy it blind cuz I REALLY like that song "The Lake" or whatever) and I ended up thinking a bunch of it was just too melodramatic. Think I need to give it a second chance, though. Doesn't seem like the kind of thing you can really appreciate in a room full of bustling strangers and people waiting on line to listen to whatever they got.

Aside: how often do albums you dismissed at a listening station end up being ones you seriously like down the road?

― hot doorknobs (hot doorknobs), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 22:43 (twenty years ago)

I forgot about Antony and the Johnsons. I saw them live with Lou Reed a couple of years ago and thought they were great but I forgot to ever pick up an album. Should I go for the first or the new one? I like over the top melodrama so maybe I'd prefer the first?

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 22:56 (twenty years ago)

the new one is really, really good. he sings like an angel and the band is just wonderful. the orchestration is extremely pretty and laid back. some of the lyrics are insane, though. well, not really, maybe, but rather provoking for sure. i really wanna see him live, and the last time i was i nyc i only missed him by a day! dammit.

― Jay-Kid (Jay-Kid), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 23:39 (twenty years ago)

It was weird when I saw him because he played at Wigstock and everybody else is doing this ironic lipsynch diva thing and he comes out and just sings his guts out with no safety net at all. In a day of drag queens trying to be out-shock each other it was just totally refreshing and cool.

― Drew Daniel (Drew Daniel), Thursday, 3 February 2005 00:36 (twenty years ago)

yeah, i saw him in new york in November and he was so funny and soulful. We could have done without the hammy powerballad duet with boy george but otherwise it was amazing. "The Lake" was one of my songs of the year last year, no question.

― Conor (Conor), Thursday, 3 February 2005 02:04 (twenty years ago)

I walked into Wall of Sound Records yesterday and thought a Roxy Music bootleg was playing over the system. Turned out to be the new Antony and the Johnsons.

Matos' description ("overwrought but intriguing and well done") seems OTM.

― Dave Segal (Da ve Segal), Thursday, 3 February 2005 02:37 (twenty years ago)

mike powell smells

― jake b. (cerybut), Thursday, 3 February 2005 03:41 (twenty years ago)

I am a Bird Now is so beautiful. I'm shocked I didn't hear him sooner.

― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 7 February 2005 03:27 (twenty years ago)

I used to work in the same office as Antony. He used to show up for work in semi-drag.

― Snappy (sexyDancer), Monday, 7 February 2005 03:53 (twenty years ago)

L.A. folks: he's playing @ a Spaceland related venue in February

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Monday, 7 February 2005 04:45 (twenty years ago)

I officially love this album now.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Monday, 7 February 2005 04:52 (twenty years ago)

Don't necessarily trust Other Music. Everything they sell is either a "masterpiece," "classic," or, at least, "highly reccommended!" It's hard to blame them, really. They are a retailer and all.

Here are some samples of their reviews in their latest update:

"To describe it as a masterpiece is no exaggeration. [It's] destined to be one of this year's most acclaimed and beloved albums."

"[T]hat rare album that took me by surprise and reinstilled my faith in music."

"This is truly a record that once gone, you'll be sad you missed. Don't sleep on this one."

"Highest possible recommendation!"

"Totally divine."

So don't feel like you're missing out if you don't buy every album they sell :)

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Monday, 7 February 2005 07:29 (twenty years ago)

I heard the first album a couple years back simply because I found out Joan Wasser used to be in "The Johnsons." Maybe it's case of your first being your sentimental favorite or whatever, but I like that one much more than the new one.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Monday, 7 February 2005 07:42 (twenty years ago)

So is this new one essentially more of the same, or what? Only thing I've gathered so far is that it's somewhat less melodramatic (but then, so's your average couple of hours off Wagner's Ring cycle)
I have to admitt hat I was a bit put off when I saw the notice on their website flaunting that there'd be a Boy George duet on this new one.

Nonetheless, "Cripple and the starfish" is probably my favorite Titanic-style ballad ever!

― Øystein (Øystein), Monday, 7 February 2005 08:26 (twenty years ago)

I bought it and i'm blown away at the voice, songwriting and playing?

This isn't fashion music. I agree witht comment about Nina Simone, i also hear a little Little Jimmy Scott...SOULFUL STUFF!

― Antonio DePietro, Monday, 7 February 2005 20:37 (twenty years ago)

i'm not convinced i need to own it or listen to it, but i have immense respect for antony and his music and what he's doing. just for some reason can't get entirely into it, it's my prob not his in any way.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 7 February 2005 20:42 (twenty years ago)

If I really love 'Fistful Of Love' and haven't heard anything else, will I like this? Should I buy the last one too?

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Monday, 7 February 2005 21:00 (twenty years ago)

I heard a few crappy live mp3s a while ago and completely fell for his voice, it should be overly-melodramatic but there's something - some sort of restraint or control - which just makes him classic. I'd very much like to hear the new album.

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Monday, 7 February 2005 21:14 (twenty years ago)

What sort of when will it be out?

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Monday, 7 February 2005 21:15 (twenty years ago)

Wait! Today! Facts, yeah. I'm really excited about this now.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Monday, 7 February 2005 21:18 (twenty years ago)

Too over the top for me ... too everything! With stuff like "Cripple and the Starfish" and "Hitler in My Heart" from that last release, I just have a hard time knowing how funny he's trying to be. (He IS funny tho, he was a scream verbally sparring with a buzzing Warsaw crowd when he opened for Le Tigre a couple years ago.)

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 7 February 2005 21:25 (twenty years ago)

If you dont want drama, this isn't for you.
But forget all that...how about Lou Reed's appearance? He brought it!

― Antonio DePietro, Monday, 7 February 2005 22:53 (twenty years ago)

Antony does a strange version of "Perfect Day" on Reed's "The Raven".

― Snappy (sexyDancer), Monday, 7 February 2005 23:01 (twenty years ago)

slot me in with the believers - this is wonderful.

― mark p (Mark P), Tuesday, 8 February 2005 03:24 (twenty years ago)

If I didn't care for the first one should I take a chance with this one?

― Jeff K (jeff k), Tuesday, 8 February 2005 03:26 (twenty years ago)

The only song by Antony and the Johnsons I've heard is "Hope There's Someone" (from his new one, I think). Is this fairly representative of his/their music? If so, then count me in as a lover not a fighter on this. For some reason, I hear something of Scott Walker in this very beautiful song.

― David A. (Davant), Tuesday, 8 February 2005 03:51 (twenty years ago)

The few songs i've heard from the new one sound absolutely haunting and captivating even though it took a few listens for them to sink in.

― Jeff K (jeff k), Tuesday, 8 February 2005 03:57 (twenty years ago)

put me in the 'liked the first one better' crowd. maybe because it was so not what i expected,and really won me over. I am very excited that he has included vancouver on his tour,and already have my ticket.The media club is such an intimate venue [maybe 150-175] that it should be amazing.

fyi:: on the boards in seattle has april 22-23/05 booked for Antony and the Johnsons,Devendra Banhart & William Basinski all playing together for a special show.

― william (william), Tuesday, 8 February 2005 19:06 (twenty years ago)

I saw Antony last night. He's a really cool guy and sings like, as my pal puts it, "a gay Bryan Ferry" -- fastest vibratto in the west. Anyhow, really great singer, but the arrangement was piano, acoustic guitar, cello, i.e., sonic quaaludes. Dude needs a drummer.

― Heidy- Ho, Saturday, 19 February 2005 21:16 (twenty years ago)

fyi for seattle listees::

tickets went on sale today for the above mentioned on the boards show.

― william (william), Wednesday, 2 March 2005 01:22 (twenty years ago)

four weeks pass...

Why is the london show sold out already? Fuck London.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 1 April 2005 12:03 (twenty years ago)

I like this a whole bunch of lot.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 1 April 2005 12:05 (twenty years ago)

Sorry to be so gross, but "I accept and I collect the memories of your devotion on my body" cracks me up everytime. Like, eww. He must be getting awfully crusty.

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Friday, 1 April 2005 12:31 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

Head over heels in love with this record. One of my favorites of '05 by far.

Is there anything besides "The Lake' EP and the s/t one?

― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 23:38 (twenty years ago)

I need to hear this guy/these guys (it was the Marc Almond photo with him that suggests there's something there to investigate -- also, I'm all for Nina Simone/Roxy Music references.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 23:43 (twenty years ago)

wasn't into it at first -but def am now

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 00:38 (twenty years ago)

haha, i just OTM'd your criticisms of it on one of the many other AJs threads.

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 00:42 (twenty years ago)

aaaaaah i'm sorry!!!

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 00:48 (twenty years ago)

and there's still a chance i could hate it again (and for the exact same reasons i hated it at first!)

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 00:50 (twenty years ago)

i've tried and I've tried and I've tried but it all seems so cabaret to me (in a bad way). I guess I'll just never see the light...

― breezy, Wednesday, 11 May 2005 05:19 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

09/15/05__Vancouver, BC___
09/20/05__San Francisco, CA___Palace Of Fine Arts
09/22/05__Los Angeles, CA__Vista Theatre
09/23/05__San Diego, CA__San Diego Woman's Club

...at the risk of coming off as this being the only guy i listen to,more NA dates just announced on pollstar. the vancouver show at St. Andrews Wesley Church sounds very intriguing.[though it would be the 3rd time seeing him this year for me]

― william (william), Friday, 8 July 2005 03:56 (twenty years ago)

I want to see him at Town Hall but I'm broke. :(

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Friday, 8 July 2005 04:00 (twenty years ago)

Brainwasher:.
collect some bottles for a refund,give blood,sell a kidney! but see this man!

― william (william), Friday, 8 July 2005 04:05 (twenty years ago)

i adored the album, and thought his cover of "mysteries of love" was perhaps the most heartbreaking thing i'd ever heard.

then i saw him live in glasgow and was bitterly disappointed: too knowing, too self-aware, too cabaret. all the emotional power of the songs seemed blunted.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Friday, 8 July 2005 08:33 (twenty years ago)

I saw him live in Birmingham and was far from disappointed. Very charming, very funny, beautiful voice, beautiful songs.

― dmun drive-in (dmun), Friday, 8 July 2005 09:26 (twenty years ago)

"then i saw him live in glasgow and was bitterly disappointed: too knowing, too self-aware, too cabaret. all the emotional power of the songs seemed blunted."

I went to that, but thought it was wonderful. Didn't think it was knowing or cabaret, quite the opposite: he seemed to be really getting into the songs. That Leonard Cohen cover was almost unbearably gorgeous.
Perhaps the only disappointment was Hope There's Someone, but that's probably down to my inflated expectation that it would be the song to make me blub like a big baby. Then again, I had a couple of beers before the performance so I was all the more likely to get maudlin.
His reaction to the Glesga banter was good too. "Everyone's gay!"

― Stew (stew s), Friday, 8 July 2005 11:21 (twenty years ago)

I gotta say that, in a year that has lacked genuine surprise, this album has wowed me. I was in no way prepared for it and I just fell in love with it. Here's hoping he makes a stop in Chicago before the year is out.

― Brett Hickman (Bhickman), Friday, 8 July 2005 18:54 (twenty years ago)

two weeks pass...

brett:: Here's hoping he makes a stop in Chicago before the year is out.

Tue10/04/05 Chicago, IL Park West

― drone/a/saur (william), Wednesday, 27 July 2005 21:36 (twenty years ago)

How nominated for the Mercury prize? Don'tcha have to be British -- he's not, is he?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 28 July 2005 13:17 (twenty years ago)

Born in Chichester, but left the UK at the age of eight, so he's presumably got in there via a technicality. Either that or the Mercury judges are desperate.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 28 July 2005 13:19 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

A triumphant, fuck you Conor McNichols and the lame indiehorse you rode in on bump.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 20:56 (twenty years ago)

never heard them

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 21:00 (twenty years ago)

haha yeh this is cool! was sure was gonna be kaiser chefs.

― emsk ( emsk), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 21:35 (twenty years ago)

Congratulations, Big Tony!

(I have not heard this record, but I would like to.)

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 07:22 (twenty years ago)

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