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Miles - 2004-02-18 13:46:23
I feel like every time I comment, I'm disagreeing with you, when there's actually something like a 90% concord between us when it comes to opinions on film 'n' music 'n' culture 'n' stuff. But so far, I'm really knocked out by Courtney's new one. I think it rocks like nobody's business, even on the ballads (as Stipe said of DOCUMENT, "even the soft songs are loud"); it comes across to me as heartfelt rather than contrived, even with the involvement of the repulsive Linda Perry; and though I'll cede slightly to the "samey" charge, the album mixes up tempos and keeps the proceedings to LP length, so I hardly get bored. I don't get the "Perry Farrell" comment on the vocals, either -- mind you, I'm not completely opposed to Farrell, but Courtney's voice sounds to me wholly unlike Farrell's (thin, nasal, high-pitched, reedy, mosquito-like) and mostly like, well, Courtney (throaty, rough-edged, on the verge of cracking and thus perhaps surprisingly vulnerable -- just like the rest of her life). I think Melissa and I played AMERICA'S SWEETHEART eight or nine times last week, so it's definitely working for us, and it has a good chance of staying #1 for me in 2004 until the Wilco record comes out...
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Paula - 2004-02-18 14:51:14
I don't get the "Perry Farrell" comment on the vocals, either

I'm not opposed to PF or CL, they both have done interesting things, and I think that Hole song about wanting to be the girl with the most cake is a haunting song.

What I meant by comparing the two is that they share signifiers of a sort of early-90s/L.A. sensibility: tuneful but not so much singing as putting across the lyrics in a bellowing primal scream. Not punky, either.
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Miles - 2004-02-18 16:18:32

What I meant by comparing the two is that they share signifiers of a sort of early-90s/L.A. sensibility: tuneful but not so much singing as putting across the lyrics in a bellowing primal scream. Not punky, either.

Let's see if HTML tags work in here (since I see you've got paragraphs and everything!)...

Usually any mention of Perry Farrell in my cirle is an automatic put-down, so I'm glad to see that you've got a balanced view of him. And now I understand what you're getting at with that comparison of PF and CL.

I think Farrell bellows far more than Courney, though - and I guess I still hear Courtney/Hole as a descendent of punk in its Replacements -> Nirvana variant, whereas Farrell's projects strike me as having a lot more in common with metal, Iggy, and Zep - in fact, emblemizing the L.A. sound you're talking about.

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