Anticipation vs. The Real Thing

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You know that feeling you get when you read or hear about a record and think to yourself, "Wow, that sounds cool. I really want to hear that." Sometimes it takes a little while before you actually get to hear it, and the anticipation builds a bit. Then you finally hear it for the first time, and you have to measure what you're getting against the sounds already constructed in your head.

So, three-part question:

1) When is the last time this happened to you?
2) What were you hoping for, based on what what you read?
3) Did the record deliver on the promise of the hype?

― Mark, Monday, 1 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

1) Andrew WK
2) Expected obnoxious pop-metal with hooks & a sense of fun
3) Downloaded two tracks and got what I expected -- and I like it!

― Mark, Monday, 1 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

1. I finally got around to listening to Curve's Doppelganger the other day in a nearby record store (yes, I realize that this is not exactly a currently exploding band ;-).).

2. I was hoping for a maelstrom of noise that can be described by adjectives usually reserved for natural disasters and such.

3. Not exactly; it sort of sounded like Garbage (yes, the Shirley Manson band). Pretty awful lyrics (and I don't usually even notice them), nearly overbearing Flood production (although it's undoubtedly an aurally exhausting listen - in a good way, probably), and too much reliance on the major-scale-with-flat-7 mode (what's that called again?) that 90s rock is rife with (and marked by). I call it the "Pumpkins scale" for some reason - I think they used it a lot, and they were the first band where I actually noticed it as a Thing. I did like "Horror Head," though, and maybe I just need to let it sink in more.

― Clarke B., Monday, 1 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

What bothered me more, though, I think, was the fact that I was enjoying the Suede album (s/t) playing in the store more than the Curve CD I was listening to in headphones - it just seemed, I don't know, out of character, though it's nice to know I can still surprise myself.

― Clarke B., Monday, 1 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"still" -- haha, I'm only 22!

― Clarke B., Monday, 1 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

mixolydian?

― Josh, Monday, 1 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

1) Fischerspooner 2) A male-fronted Chicks On Speed 3) No, it's far less interesting than that

― electric sound of jim, Monday, 1 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Rock and Pop all sounds the same. All bands sound the same. Surprise is just our self-induced delusion so we can remain happy and continue to buy records to serve the capitalist machine.

― Adorno, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Curve/Garbage comparison is not a new thing. Since I heard Curve first, though, Garbage will be forever considered by me to be rip-off artists.

― paul, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm not surprised that the comparison's not new! Yeah, I wish I had heard Curve first, too. I really do need to give the album a second chance, I'll bet - thing was, I think I *wanted* to like the album more than I actually did.

― Clarke B., Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

My dad was always saying that Lizard is really awful, we had it on tape but he recorded Starless over it. I read a lot of things about people who hated it, who wanted Greg Lake to have done the vocals, etc. and so expected something really bad. I was pleasantly surprised; it is good, and quite freaky in places. See thread about it.

― Anna Rose, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

1) From first hearing about "Countryman" by Skitz to finally getting a copy must have been about 14 months. It was constantly sold out in nearly every shop I went to, I had to go to Manchester to get a copy.
2) Some sort of relaxed yet forceful collection of British hip-hop, with a sombre festival atmosphere.
3) "Domestic Science" and "Cordless Mics at 20 Paces" are classics. But it suffers from the great curse of Brit-Hop: an appearance by Rodney fucking P.

― Dom Passantino, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

1)Lizard - it was the one studio King Crimson album I didn't have from between In the Court and Three of a Perfect Pair, and KC albums are impossible to get where we live. 2)My Dad said it was crap and so did a fair amount of reviews, so I was expecting crap - but what the hell, with a track list like that, you have to listen to it. 3)It's fucking brilliant. Buy a copy now.

― jonathan thrak, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

1) Scott Walker - Tilt
2) I was expecting something very bleak and stream of consciousness. And I wasn't a Scott Walker fan, so I was also expecting not to like it.
3) The record was incredible. For one, it wasn't unlistenable like a bunch of reviews I had read -- parts were very straightforward and almost cinematic. Furthermore, it was very musically inspiring. I wasn't prepared for the depth of composition or expression.

― dleone, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

1) Greadful Dead- Anthem Of The Sun

2)All my musically inclined friends told me this is the one I'd Like.

3) No There some good use of tape splices here and there but it's just another Dead record.

― brg30, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

1) Greatful Dead- Anthem Of The Sun

2)All my musically inclined friends told me this is the one I'd Like.

3) No There some good use of tape splices here and there but it's just another Dead record.

― brg30, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

1. shelley/devoto album
2. the high point of human artistic expression, based on my own naive optimism, faith in humanity, certainty of the existence of god, and maybe something about the live show that I saw on the magazine site
3. not exactly, but the hype was mostly self-generated.

― dan, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

vivarin.

― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 25 July 2003 03:08 (twenty-two years ago)

ooh moww muh moww moww

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 25 July 2003 03:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Does this thread pit Carly Simon against Faith No More?

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Saturday, 26 July 2003 01:08 (twenty-two years ago)

1) Aimee Mann, Lost In Space
2) Expected a bland, diluted version of Whatever; hadn't read any particularly enthusiastic reviews, Aimee's albums have been a steady if gradual decline since then.
3) Got a surprisingly good, perfectly produced collection of pop songs, which I should have expected originally; it's got some of her best, sharpest songs in years on it, like Pavlov's Bell, though there is a lull in quality towards the end.

― The Lex (The Lex), Saturday, 26 July 2003 01:27 (twenty-two years ago)

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