Antony and the Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now

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can't stop listening. be-a-utiful. haven't heard music this truthful and devoid of pretention in a long time.

thoughts?

― rockaction (rockaction), Sunday, 13 February 2005 08:53 (twenty years ago)

Nothing with Devendra Banhart and Lou Reed on it can be 'devoid of pretension'. But surely it's pretentious in the most fabulous and positive way?

― Momus (Momus), Sunday, 13 February 2005 09:11 (twenty years ago)

it's a gorgeous album

― manuel (manuel), Sunday, 13 February 2005 09:59 (twenty years ago)

haven't heard it yet, but i want to. i guess i should pick it up. i still haven't actually bought anything from 2005 yet.

here's another thread that's kind of like this if you're interested: Antony and the Johnsons?

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Sunday, 13 February 2005 10:06 (twenty years ago)

it's the best thing i've heard all year and the most beautiful & heartbreaking thing i've heard in a very long time.

the first track, "Hope There's Someone", is up on my blog now! www.everythingsgonegreen.blogspot.com

― Nic de Teardrop (Nicholas), Sunday, 13 February 2005 10:42 (twenty years ago)

The big build in the middle is incredible, but the rest of the song is kinda annoying, like Jimi Sommerville channelling Bessie Smith.

― Momus (Momus), Sunday, 13 February 2005 15:27 (twenty years ago)

Wow, this song is a disappointment. I loved a ocuple of songs on the last album, but felt it was far too uneven, and was hoping that it'd be fixed on this one. I wish he'd have a bit more taste in his use of vibrato too, but there's that opinion thing - it is after all one of his prime traits as a singer. Maybe he just needs to gulp down a bunch of Demetrio Stratos records.

Can't say I agree with mom on the buildup either, it sounds like a subpar also-ran of the 70s symph prog scene to me. Mixed with XTC's Jason And The Argonauts. Oh well, at least it adds a little friskiness to the song.

― Øystein (Øystein), Sunday, 13 February 2005 15:57 (twenty years ago)

My favourite track is still Spiralling...gotta come back to hear it more though, as mentioned on another Antony thread somewhere.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Sunday, 13 February 2005 15:59 (twenty years ago)

oops guess this has already been posted, close this if you want mr. post-closing man.

and yes, many could view alot of this as pretentious, but what i meant was that he seems to come from such a touchingly genuine and painful place that i never question the "melodrama" in the music. his presence justifies the swells and 30 second horn solos.

― rockaction (rockaction), Sunday, 13 February 2005 19:06 (twenty years ago)

well, upon downloading and playing "hope there's someone" and "since you been gone" by kelly clarkson in respective sequence, i can say that contrary to my expectations, i'm digging the one by kelly more.. does this have something to do with context? oh wait, actually, now it's repeating. okay, yes, it's context. these songs are funny together. i am enjoying this antony and the johnsons one more on its second time around, it's the piano buildup now, now it's kind of dragging on, okay, yeah, i still like the kelly one more, yikes..

― reo, Monday, 14 February 2005 00:19 (twenty years ago)

idiot.

― rockaction (rockaction), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 00:30 (twenty years ago)

I'm skeptical. A friend showed this to me today saying that the singer's voice sounded like Scott Walker which was a ridiculous notion that I hope no one else has had or will ever have. I'll give it a try and report back. BTW, calling someone an idiot for having an opinion in music is way cool.

― greg ginn thought neubauten was bullshit, why don't you? (smile), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 01:25 (twenty years ago)

Antony and the Johnsons?

― Jay-Kid (Jay-Kid), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 14:24 (twenty years ago)

yeah that was bad form. i was drunk and angry at something completely unrelated. i owe mr. reo an apology. that kelly clarkson song is quite catchy, i must say. no hard feelings?

― rockaction (rockaction), Saturday, 19 February 2005 19:45 (twenty years ago)

i think this is awesome and am going to see them (?) next friday. stylus concert review ensues.

― blackmail.is.my.life (blackmail.is.my.life), Saturday, 19 February 2005 19:52 (twenty years ago)

biggest piece of adult comtemporary cheeseball trash ever

― zach farver, Saturday, 19 February 2005 21:20 (twenty years ago)

I am listening to this now & I actually do not know if it is a man or a woman, or black or white, or clever or unaffected & I am avoiding reading this thread and other things in case I find out how many of these things apply, and how many other things too.

It is very good, though, now.

― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Sunday, 20 February 2005 00:56 (twenty years ago)

three months pass...

Why isn't this getting more love? It's absolutely stunning.

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 15:32 (twenty years ago)

I was lent this album by a friend, who told me nothing about his opinion of it. I had anticipated hearing it because of the great reviews of it I had read, and because another friend of mine is his/their booking agent. I put it on at home, and COULD NOT GET THROUGH THE FIRST SONG! It was, by far, the most unpleasant aural experience I've had in some time. When returning it to the friend who lent it to me, he was releaved that he wasn't the only one who thought so.

― peepee (peepee), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 15:41 (twenty years ago)

Your loss. It really is something special. And I don't see why everyone gets annoyed by his voice.. have you not heard Nina Simone? Jeff Buckley's more noodly/falsetto moments?

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 15:43 (twenty years ago)

...not a big fan of those, either.

― peepee (peepee), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 15:52 (twenty years ago)

...but I like Tiny Tim!

― peepee (peepee), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 15:52 (twenty years ago)

Good album but seems pretty front-loaded. I never remember the songs in the record's second half.

― Mark (MarkR), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 16:02 (twenty years ago)

i don't think the nina simone argument stands up at all. i kind of like antony, but after some time he gets annoying, yes. nina doesn't.

― joan vich (joan vich), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 17:05 (twenty years ago)

You don't think he sounds at all like her?

― Mark (MarkR), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 17:23 (twenty years ago)

i don't think they sound alike, Nina doesn't overdo the vibrato like that. It seems totally fake to me. He doesn't sound like Jeff Buckley either, c'mon. Horrible record.

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 17:30 (twenty years ago)

the only Nina song i can think of where she goes heavy into vibrato is "Wild is the Wind". It's one of my least favourite songs of hers.

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 17:31 (twenty years ago)

"Good album but seems pretty front-loaded. I never remember the songs in the record's second half."

I find the album consistantly strong all the way through. Spiralling and Bird Gehrl are two of my favourites and theyre tracks 8 and 10.

― dmun drive-in (dmun), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 20:04 (twenty years ago)

I couldn't make it through the first half.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 20:07 (twenty years ago)

Good album but seems pretty front-loaded.

"FISTFUL OF LOVE", PEOPLE!!!

― Jetlag Willy (noodle vague), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 20:08 (twenty years ago)

seven months pass...

Christgau: "Not only is his willingness to express emotion commoner than indie denizens imagine, his failure to undercut that emotion with irony or humor is a spiritual weakness."

I agree, and I'm beginning to suspect some of his earlier stuff ("Cripple and the Starfish") wasn't even a little intentionally funny.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 21:41 (nineteen years ago)

Have you seen him live? His sense of humor is plainly in evidence, and charming.

― Drew Daniel (Drew Daniel), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 22:04 (nineteen years ago)

I am a-bored now, more like.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 22:05 (nineteen years ago)

(j/k, I've never heard him)

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 22:05 (nineteen years ago)

I have seen him live (solo and not), and he is funny ... between songs.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 22:06 (nineteen years ago)

nine years pass...

This is 10 years old. Damn.

Antony was way overexposed for a while, but I keep bringing this (and the first one) up from time to time. I think it's beautiful, really.

― Mule, Sunday, 1 November 2015 15:31 (nine years ago)

This album and "blind" really got me

I thought I was done with her but spotify discover just this week ambushed me with a live version of bird guhl and now I am really really up for anohni

― Tell The BTLs to Fuck Off (wins), Sunday, 1 November 2015 15:40 (nine years ago)

when in the right mood, all of these albums are exceptional

― akm, Sunday, 1 November 2015 16:06 (nine years ago)

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