A Perfect Circle - The Thirteenth Step

lay your head down child/I won't let the boogieman come...

I was lucky enough to catch the tour for this -- the show started with a version of "The Vanishing" that was mesmerizing.

I've listened to Lateralus a bit more but this is the runner-up in terms of Maynard-related stuff for sure. Friend Stripey once noted about the album that it's in many ways a shoegaze album but mixed differently -- the guitars are the 'buried' instrument in comparison to the rhythm section.

"Pet," in retrospect, for me defines a lot of the willful mentality of the W. years of the decade more than most other cultural products.

The video for "The Outsider" is nonstop lolzy silliness:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP1U5dnUIoM

Haven't heard this album in years, voted for "The Nurse" though.

the outsider

"The Nurse Who Loved Me", although I think that is mostly a sentimental shoutout to the aptly named band "Failure" who wrote it :(

they were great

failure were great.

it's "the outsider" for me, but i really like "the package" as well. the whole album is quite good, but i haven't listened to it lately.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

And the winner...Failure!

yeah xpost Just listen to Failure's Fantastic Planet.. it's far more satisfying. (I actually don't like APC's cover that much and would have voted for the one where he sings about suicide.)

many of these songs deserved votes ;_;

I was lucky enough to catch the tour for this -- the show started with a version of "The Vanishing" that was mesmerizing.

^^^^^^^

Revisiting this album today and it's pretty fucking good. Haven't listened to much Tool/APC stuff since, oh, first year of college... but there's time in my life to revisit certain sounds, and today it's this album. It's been... 6-7 years since I played this? And not sure how the entire album's going to hold up, but Lord does that watery bassline in "The Noose" sound incredible.

Don't really like when Maynard goes all American Idol with his voice, running up and down mini-scales like he's trying to make Ellen DeGeneres cry. He's much more appealing when his vocals stay blended/buried in the songs.

Like where? I really can't think of any examples of him doing this.

You know, like on his cover of "Ring the Alarm." (Actually now I'm trying to imagine that...)

love this record so much

Like where? I really can't think of any examples of him doing this.

"So glad to see-eeee-eeeeeee-eeeee you..." (approx. 0:32)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVXTmav24Wk

Here's a few more gratuitous examples:

"Threeewww-w-ew-w--ew-e-w-www you the obvious..." (0:28)
"A naaaa-aaeeeya-aaaa-aee-mmme in your recollection..." (0:38)
"See you naked but obliviioo-oouu-oouuou-sssss..." (1:04)

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

Maynard, I get that you can jump all over the place vocally, but please just cut it the fuck out and just sing the damn song like a normal person already, this is NOT good for my ears.

You know, like on his cover of "Ring the Alarm." (Actually now I'm trying to imagine that...)

A+ would pay $$ for this.

... so when you said "mini-scales" you really meant, like, singing any vocal line with notes shorter than a quarter-note in them?

Precisely, if I was using language attuned to someone with knowledge of such things.

you realize there are all sorts of songs with runs of short notes in them and that singing them does not automatically mean you are "showing off" unless knowing how a song goes and singing it correctly is automatically defined as showing off, right

like, we are talking billions of hymns, old Celtic tunes, Gregorian chants, blues records, soul records, rock records, jazz records, etc etc etc

i don't see any of those moments as examples of showing off!

I do realize that. I just think Maynard's singing in particular fares better without the short runs all over the place (see, for example, when the lyrics in "3 Libras" repeat in the second verse: "Threw you the obvious..." and he then chooses to sing it more straightforwardly, and the runs he does throw in aren't as rapid-fire showy sounding).

xpost

i don't see any of those moments as examples of showing off!

I can just picture Simon Cowell going, "Okay, so I get that you're a good singer, Maynard, but you're trying to do too much with the song. You're showing off too much, it's too obvious. We know you're a *technically* good singer, you've proven that. I just wish you had injected the song with a bit more restraint, instead of always going for broke and then overdoing it."

And yes, I realize at this point I sound completely irrational.

we'll just have to agree to disagree then, man. i'm w/ HI DERE

HI DERE I'M W/ HI DERE

speaking of APC, has anyone heard that Ashes Divide record?

i don't see any of those moments as examples of showing off!

ksh, it actually makes sense that you'd dig these vocal tricks -- it's like he's going all Maynard James Newsom on that shit.

just fyi you've made the transition from "completely irrational" to "like you're wearing soiled underwear on your face"

Maynard James Newsom

i lol'd irl

like, okay I get that some people react to vocal embellishment with total AFFRONT, like how DARE that person have the NERVE to sing extra notes in that melody line, but you're kind of transitioning into "... and furthermore it would be much better if singers just didn't sing, period"

it all depends on what someone's idea of "showing off" is, and none of those examples come close to anything i'd consider actually "showing off"

It's showing off within the context of APC/Tool/Maynard stuff, relatively speaking. Not to be compared with anything else, I mean, it's not like we're talking Andrea Bocelli here.

you're kind of transitioning into "... and furthermore it would be much better if singers just didn't sing, period"

Didn't do this at all.

hahaha wait, Bocelli ornaments nothing; he's like the strictest, most conservative interpreter of tenor rep out there

all I am really hearing is Maynard singing like Maynard, pretty much exactly how he does on all of the other Tool/APF stuff I've heard (like, have you listened to the "Opiate" EP lately?) so your complaints are just not making any sense to me whatsoever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt0Zqo-vOFM

... for example

hahaha wait, Bocelli ornaments nothing; he's like the strictest, most conservative interpreter of tenor rep out there

Again, I get your point, but he's someone the layperson would consider to be "showing off" vocally.

but you're violating the terms of your own argument here, namely that Maynard is showing off in the context of people who sing like Maynard, by citing an example where the person named does not show off in the context of people who sing like him

I think we're looking at different sides of the same coin here...

If it bothers you, then please just scrap the Bocelli reference. My point in comparing the two was that if you ask the average music fan who is more vocally showy -- Keenan or Bocelli -- what's the obvious answer gonna be (regardless of whether Bocelli is *actually* a pretty straightforward singer who just happens to have a fucking great voice)?

I have loved this album for years without really paying attention to the lyrics. Today is the first time that I noticed that the whole album is kind of an overarching concept piece about being an addict and the attendant loss of control that comes with it.

I fucking love this album so much.

Today is the first time that I noticed that the whole album is kind of an overarching concept piece about being an addict

Twelve Steps to Serenity... Thirteenth Step... reading comprehension really isn't your thing, is it

j/k

Great album!

dan have you ever listened to that failure song

listening to it now

ooh this is creepy and awesome

Fwiw I think the Failure cover is kinda the weak link on this album. That said, I see why they covered it here; the themes btwn the two albums are v. similar -- addiction/recovery, loss of control, doing lots of smack, etc.

This version = far superior, though:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVg9GcUDArQ

okay so note to self: investigate Failure

First album's kinda tough to find in used bins (OOP) but the latter two and esp. Fantastic Planet can be had pretty easily for a few bucks in most CD shops. Well worth picking up. Fantastic Planet def. their most spaced-out album, the prior two (Comfort, Magnified) are more straightforward heavy '90s rock with hints of their greatness to come.

You've heard them before Dan, they were the guys that did "Enjoy the Silence" on the For the Masses Depeche tribute album back in 1998 or so.

o rly

I'll have to dig that out as well

love this record so much

― ksh, Tuesday, April 27, 2010 12:41 PM (5 months ago)

man, I keep forgetting about tracks like "A Stranger"

this thing is fucking fantastic

Didn't one of the Depeche guys say he prefers the Failure version to the original?

Probably the drummer.

It won this poll handily, btw: In case Gaga fucks it up: "For the Masses" Depeche Mode tribute album poll

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zN-DL8o1TQ

pardavesiela
1 month ago

its sounds good, why is this failure?

Failure/Tool collab sorta

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8apm-PX9Ws

Nice little record, that.

lay your head down, child
I won't let the boogeyman come

...go back to sleep.

just stay with me
safe and ignorant

LOVE THIS SONG SO MUCH

A perfect Bush-era song, really.

the sequencing on this is pretty killer too. there's no other song it could end with but "Gravity"

A perfect Bush-era song, really.

http://www.nndb.com/people/590/000103281/gavin-rossdale-1-sized.jpg

lol, apparently one of the dudes who played on this album was a former member of Failure

just saw these guys live at the beacon and the setlist relied too heavily on eMOTIVE (which, why) but the thirteenth step songs sounded real special—they kind of unfurled, got to sort of exist in a space around themselves. not sure if that makes any sense, but i offer "orestes" (which is not a thirteenth step jam but is a jam regardless), the script of which was altered so that the song could live inside of billy howerdel's guitar tone for awhile.

they ended with a new song that was maybe the best song in the set? i need another record from these guys

new song was sort of structured like "the package" but with MORE ATMOSPHERE if you can get into that

new song:

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

clever got me this far
then tricky got me in

That was the line that Stripey locked into almost immediately when she first heard the album.

Dan otm. Didn't vote but would've voted for The Package.

lol, I voted for "Pet"

I just got around to hearing this last month and yes, I would have picked The Package too. That line reminds me of "The Ageing Young Rebel" by DJ Food.

A "Fantastic Planet" poll might be cool if more than 7 people on ILX loved Failure.

I want to check them out after hearing that song. I mean, I went and found the youtube of the song, but haven't delved any deeper.

this record is so great

I am randomly listening to the 'did anyone know this existed' record by Billy Howerdel from a couple of years back under the name Ashes Divide. Kinda clear why on his own he's fair enough but pretty unremarkable in general.

your assignment is to listen to this as soon as possible

https://twitter.com/grimezsz/status/345092013085057025

sigh, well if grimes says I should listen to it.

not just her tho

A "Fantastic Planet" poll might be cool if more than 7 people on ILX loved Failure.

Ok so me, you, who are the other 5.

me

Okay enough

it's in many ways a shoegaze album but mixed differently -- the guitars are the 'buried' instrument in comparison to the rhythm section.

I love this. Lack of votes for "Blue" is craziness.

guitars sound like ashes divide

well, guitar

on the new track

i'm only now realizing how good the drumming is on this record

like i know josh freese is the man but there is something v special going on during "blue" and "vanishing"

A "Fantastic Planet" poll might be cool if more than 7 people on ILX loved Failure.
Ok so me, you, who are the other 5.

― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 8 August 2013 01:52 (three years ago) Permalink

me

― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Thursday, 8 August 2013 02:59 (three years ago) Permalink

me

freese is such a joy to watch too, when he really gets going he just flails about

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3N9PKGc-Tg