#i like it when the music sounds a little rough … unpolished … raw

[desmondkane-of-ao3-fame]

Songbird Shoulda Learned from Rattlesnake; Comparing the Original Hadestown Album with Broadway

Brief note; At time of writing this (1-2 in the goddamn morning) I have only listened to the Broadway Musical, seen the traveling show based on the broadway musical, and listened to the original album. I have not seen any bootlegs of the other versions, and while I have listened to some of the 2016 version, I admit the fact it’s missing several songs makes me hesitant to listen due to completionism. That being said, this will only be comparing the Broadway production with the original album, no more. Sorry about that.

Should Hadestown’s Broadway show have been less polished?

On the face of it, it sounds like an absolutely stupid question. Of course a show should be polished, and Hadestown is as polished as a diamond. It shines splendidly in all its glory, crafted with a love and care not even most children will receive. It’s a testament to the beauty of human innovation and perseverance, a story almost 2 decades in the making that could have easily never made it anywhere close to Broadway were it not for anaïs Mitchell’s dedication and talent. Of COURSE Hadestown needed that polish. So why even ask?

Well… because of Hadestown.

Not the Broadway musical, but the original 2010 album.

Originally, I had only heard the Broadway recording and seen the stage show (spoilers, it’s incredible). But recently, I decided to expand my love for the Hadestown mythos by diving into the album of the same name, the rough draft of what would become the modern Hadestown show. And listening to it, I realized that, perhaps there’s an argument to make that the Broadway show is a bit too polished, a bit too clean. That maybe in cutting back on the rougher edges, Hadestown lost something that should have been kept, something that no amount of polish can create.

To be clear, when I say unpolished I don’t mean “Bad.” I mean that there are elements that don’t feel perfect, that feel more raw and unclean. Which, in a lot of ways, is what the original Hadestown album sounds like. Even though you can see the bones of what would become modern Hadestown throughout the album, those bones are coated in rotting flesh. Most of the songs on the album sound far uglier then their Broadway counterparts. Again, though, I don’t use ugly to replace ‘Bad’. There’s a clear stylistic choice that Hadestowns album is going for. Mainly, a much dirtier, much less clean feeling from the Broadway show.

“Wedding Song” on Broadway is a cute start to Orpheus and Eurydice’s relationship. On the album, it’s a depressing dirge where Eurydice seems to be fully aware of how little Orpheus can provide for her. “If it’s True” on Broadway is a cry for revolution that inspires Hades workers to view Orpheus as a potential savior. The albums is the depressing ramblings of a lost man. And “Wait For Me,” the most iconic song in Hadestown, the big, bombastic melody? Yeah, on the album Hermes sounds like Satan himself whispering to Orpheus from a recording, while the ‘poor boy’ wails like a ghost in a way that’s less motivating and more bone chilling. If you’re a Broadway fan, it’s like listening to a alternative universe: all the elements of Hadestown we know are there, but so distorted as to feel uncanny.

And not all of the album works for me. Persephone as a character feels much weaker, Orpheus often sounds so depressed as to come off as bored and disinterested, and the lack of any real happiness’s throughout makes the end feel less like a gut punch and more like a ‘Well, duh.’

And yet, so much of the album works not in-spite of its ugliness, but because of it.

The world of the album feels far more of a poverty stricken hellscape then the Broadway show, accomplishing this by letting the music feel like it actually CAME FROM a poverty stricken hellscape. The singing isn’t always pretty, but it has this way of making one think of real people, people they may know in their lives, maybe those who have been beaten down by an uncaring capitalistic system. The instrumentals aren’t always pretty, but it always gives one a sensation of being in a disturbing world, a world where hell is very, VERY much real, and is, again, capitalistic.

And I think the show lacks some of those qualities. Hadestown is a beautiful Broadway show, but it IS a Broadway show through and through, crafted with the intention of pleasing crowds as opposed to creating a raw, unfiltered experience like the album. It’s so polished as to feel a bit too clean, a bit too staged. The music is beautiful, but in that beauty, some of the ugly realities Hadestown seeks to comment on seem lost. Making broadways “Wait for Me” big and bombastic somewhat lessens the menace and evil from Hadestown as a capitalistic dystopia, whereas the album leans so hard into that as to make it sound like hell itself. Turning “Lovers Desire” from the album, an instrumental that could simply be what Orpheus plays to Hades to convince him to let him take Eurydice, into “Epic III (“They danced…”)” and showing it as a song that encourages Hades and Persephone to at least attempt to rekindle their marriage softens Hades evil businessman persona, somewhat muddies the anti-capitalistic messaging. And honestly, some of the songs just sound cooler. I like the tinny effects used on the Fates in “Gone, I’m Gone” and Hermes in “Wait for Me,” and I personally prefer the albums “Way Down Hadestown,” if for nothing else then the epic harmonica and crazed Hermes voice.

To be clear, I still prefer the Broadway show. I still absolutely love it to death and find it to be arguably the most complex and compelling musical since… well, ever. But perhaps it could have dug deeper into its roots, dug deeper into that ugliness in its messaging. Perhaps polishing to a shine made Hadestown’s ugly underside feel too tame, to unreal. Perhaps, I wonder, we could have seen the world both for what it could be AND for what it is on the Broadway stage.

As a final note… thank you for reading. I’ve wanted to write a deeper dive into Hadestown for a while and I’m glad I did. Even if it’s just a 2 hour meltdown I put out there at 2:15 in the morning. If you liked what you read, please heart the post. And if you have anything to say, any way to expand this discussion or just wanna call me a moron, please comment on here, or message my ask box. I promise I read them all and mostly likely respond to them all as well. Until next time, a toast to the world we dream about, and the one we live in now.

[theangryjikooker]

Hello, I hope you are doing well!

What “concept” do you think Jimin’s album is gonna be? Do you think it’s gonna be kind of a dark concept, like a concept where we’ll see a more raw and unpolished side of Jimin? Because after reading his recent Weverse interview, it seems like he was going through a rough patch… if anything, I felt like we might get a “Lie 2.0” cuz the feeling he was describing in the interview match the lyrics in “Lie”

But I’m not complaining if we get a sexy rnb kind of concept or a cute concept like “boy with luv” xD

Honestly, I don't know.

I want feral Jimin, that's what I want. 😂 Kidding (kind of). Like you, I want him to explore a concept like Lie and steer away from concepts like Promise/With You/Serendipity. We all know that he excels in that soft and melty sweetheart vibe; his voice is pretty much catered to that type of melodic sound, but I think it would be too safe of a choice if he stuck to that for his first concept.

The buzz he tends to generate when he breaks away from that formula—even when it's just a sliver—is the best way (in my opinion) for him to break ground outside of his current market and make a statement that he's more than just BTS' Park Jimin (if that's even what he wants). This might be an unpopular opinion—and I'm no expert in vocals—but his voice feels more "comfortable" in a slightly lower range, and I think he ought to look into that a little more.

I think he can achieve something similar to DPR Ian's album, Moodswings in This Order. A lot of people like to draw similarities between Ian and Jungkook (mainly for their looks), and while I think Jungkook could absolutely excel in that sound if he wanted to, Jimin's perceived trajectory (in personal matters) is sort of reminiscent of what Ian was exploring, and I firmly believe Jimin could make a killing in this way if he stayed true to that uncertainty and internal volatility and reflected that through his music.

Edited to add: When I say “Jimin’s perceived trajectory (in personal matters) is sort of reminiscent of what Ian was exploring,” I’m not saying that Jimin is experiencing what Ian did exactly. Not at all. Ian was really going through it, but Jimin has a tendency to vacillate between “everything’s fine!” and “things have been hard,” which suggests something a little bit deeper is going on, and music is really all about honesty. I just think if he let his walls down and allowed himself to dive into what he’s experiencing, it would resonate a lot with the public.

P.S. Thank you, anon, for this lovely question, and I hope you’re having a wonderful day!

[metalindex-hu]

„I was happy to get a second chance with Abomination”

„I was happy to get a second chance with Abomination” - http://metalindex.hu/2020/11/30/i-was-happy-to-get-a-second-chance-with-abomination/ -

Paul Speckmann’s name doesn’t need any introduction. In this interview he speaks about one of his bands, Abomination’s first full length record, that was released 30 years ago.

Paul, before I ask you about Abomination, being based in Chicago, do you think that Trouble and Zoetrope were the first original heavy metal bands who were actually really heavy and not hard rock?

This hard to say because although I followed the bands in the beginning like everyone else, the notoriety of the two really became evident after the Metal Massacre 4 was released which also included Witchslayer, War Cry and Thrust which were also booming on the scene by this time!

Were they the first to maybe define a sound of heaviness in the scene and maybe everyone kind of took that sound a little?

Not in my opinion. I would say they helped shaped their own future of course early on, but there were many other bands evolving by this time in the Chicagoland area.

They (Zoetrope and Trouble) were the earliest bands that brought everyone together, weren’t they?

Both of them were influential…

Abomination

Was the early Chicago metal scene a traditional heavy metal scene? Do you think that Zoetrope, Trouble, Witchslayer, Slauter Xstroyes (previously Naj, White Which), Hammeron and a little bit later Thrust, Iron Cross, War Cry, Mayhem Inc. etc. belonged to the first wave of Chicago’s metal?

The Thirsty Whale connection was certainly there, so I guess you could call this the first wave! Many of the bands supported one another during this time period before some bands got signed and jealousy prevailed, but this was later on! We would meet up for drinks nearly every weekend, was really quite the scene I would say. We had a blast in those early days!

Were all of the bands different from each other and just sounded completely different from each other?

All the bands were influenced by early Heavy Metal, some more pop than others, etc. Many of bands were paying homage to the Glam scene as well! There was quite a mix to be honest, at least in my opinion!

On the Metal Massacre IV compilation appeared five Chicago bands (Trouble, Zoetrope, War Cry, Thrust and Witchslayer). In your opinion, did it help a lot to attract the fan’s attention to the Chicago based outfits?

Honestly only Trouble, Zoetrope and Thrust did anything after this release. Nothing came of the scene, the exact opposite really. I left War Cry after hearing Venom, Slayer and Mot��rhead repeatedly! Chicago never really gets credit for influencing the rest of the world with their excellent bands!

Abomination was formed in 1987 by you on vocals/bass, Aaron Nickeas on drums and Mike Schafer on guitars. How did you get together?

Actually, the band was formed by Chaz Baker and Mike Paul and Nickeas respectively! I went to see the original lineup a few times and was interested in the drummer. Needless to say, late nights after the Funeral Bitch rehearsals in 1987, I would join Nickeas for these late-night rendezvous with Shafer as we began our own band. Aaron decided that the name Abomination was his and soon we became Abomination.

What was your goal that you wanted to achieve Abomination with?

Obviously, we were a crossover band with many different ingredients at play in the music. We were trying to succeed in bringing the band to the world’s stage and in the end, we had several opportunities to enjoy the fruits of our labor!

Was Master on hold or did the band break up at this point?

The band had broken up by this time for several years already. I was happy to get a second chance with Abomination.

How about the musical past of Mike and Aaron?

Mike was playing guitar in Impulse Manslaughter before we met up!

Two demos (Demo 1 – 1988, Abomination – 1989) were released; can you tell us any details about them?

Not a lot to tell: Shafer came in with a few songs he had written and I wrote the rest. Mike sang his songs on the first demo, and I sang all the tracks I wrote. The only sad thing about the first demo was the crappy guitar sound. Shafer had no clue about sound at the time. Greg from Znowhite actually came to Seagrape Studios in Chicago to help me with the mixes, but said he could do nothing with the shit guitar sounds and left. After a falling out with Shafer over who knows what anymore, Aaron said he had a friend that was a killer player and this would prove to be true. I wrote all the tracks on the 2nd demo and we began rehearsals with Dean Chioles (R.I.P.) and proceeded to record again. This time the guitar sound was better, but still a bit rough.

Were these tapes heavily spread around in the scene?

The tapes were spread around the scene just as the Death Strike and Master demo were. Some of these early demos went on the influence a heavier genre of music later labelled as Death Metal!

Did you try to draw the fan’s attention to the band and to attract labels’ interests?

No, no one was interested in Abomination whatsoever until that fateful day at the woods. I had just finished working my moving job and my partner Mick said let’s go drink a few cold ones at the forest near where we worked. I cracked open an Old Style just as a few Harley’s pulled up. I smiled as I saw one of my high school rivals get off the bike with another fairly already well-known character from the band Righteous Pigs. I laughed as Ninos was speaking his usual nonsense to me and about me, when Joe Caper began burning Ninos and talking about my bands, Master, Death Strike and Abomination, mentioning that he had seen a few gigs and liked what he saw. As luck would have it, I just happened to have a copy of this latest red demo from Abomination in my pocket. Caper spoke of this new label called Nuclear Blast, and honestly, I didn’t hold my breath, because in this world talk is cheap. Well, the legend Joe Caper spoke the truth and a week or so later I received a letter and contract for Abomination from Slatko from Nuclear Blast Records. A week later another contract arrived for Master.

Did other record companies also show any interest in signing the band?

No

When did you start working on the debut album?

Obviously shortly after Chioles joined the fold we began to put together a repertoire for the first release!

How did the recording sessions go?

Actually, in my opinion the recordings were pretty weak in the end, Bob Pucci was recruited by Chioles and Nickeas to mix and produce this first album at a commercial studio. After listening to these recordings of some commercial Heavy Metal bands Pucci produced, they convinced me that this was the way to go. This was actually the first time I recorded outside of Seagrape Studios in many years.

Do you agree with, where Master played a raw Death Metal influenced Thrash Metal, Abomination is more straight Thrash Metal?

Hmm, there was no Death Metal at the time?

Was it a conscious decision to diverge from Master’s musical direction?

YES, the idea was to forge a new direction with Abomination and I believe we succeeded.

Paul nowadays

Did you manage to do a more interesting, varied album compared to Master/Death Strike?

You’d have to ask the listeners. I personally sat at the helm and produced the 2nd album with Mike Konopka again at his Seagrape Studios, and this is by far the best representation of the band at least sound wise. There were some great songs on the first release but the sound was shit!

Is it a pretty raw and unpolished version of US Thrash Metal, played loud, raw and with a savage attitude?

Sure! We were never about nail polish!

This album was dedicated to the memory of Mr. Donald Robert Speckman. Was he your father?

Yes, my father and mother died during these periods of recording!

To support the record, you went on tour with Master and Pungent Stench. What do you recall of it? Can you tell us detailed about it?

This was a difficult tour in the middle of winter. Today in November it has yet to snow, but back then snow covered the ground. Chioles, Martinelli, Nickeas, Jim Daly and I had to snuggle up together to stay warm in these Volkswagen vans to keep warm. We had many adventures, trials and tribulations during this tour. The band split up after this adventure and we all went our separate ways for years. One thing I will always remember was driving around after the shows looking for vegetarian restaurants in the bitter cold to help the PS fellas to survive! This was difficult sometimes in the bitter cold because these special places didn’t exist as they do today. Man, times change! Thankfully in today’s day and age all these animal lovers can find their vegetables without worries!

Abomination seems to be active again. Any plans for the future?

Abomination was only active for a few decent paying gigs to keep the previous band members working, and of course to share some of the killer tracks with fans in Europe.

[soundsandnoises]

Good Charlotte with The Dose, Boston Manor and Sleeping With Sirens in Alexandra Palace, London (20/02/2019)

The Dose

Dynamic duo from Los Angeles opened the show and took the audience for a ride through 90s with their grunge influenced rock. With hoarse and powerful vocals of Indio Downey and fast paced drums (the kind when drummer's arms turn into blur when you try to trace the movement of his arms) of Ralph Alexander it was a pretty good start of the evening. Soulful ballads and boasting with energy monumental rock anthems blend into quite fascinating and irresistible mix.

Boston Manor

This band from Blackpool brought gritty, raw punk rock energy with a bit of pop twist and no compromise attitude. Unapologetic lyrics that cut through you deep with extremely energetic and catchy tunes (like 'Halo') that makes you wanna jump, move to the beat. It's a fascinating mix of unpolished, rough vibe with light, pop side you can't resist. And their live shows are simply fire, 'cause they're giving it all to make sure people are having a good time.

Sleeping with Sirens

Very passionate, joyous performance (they were definitely enjoying their time onstage and doing pretty good job inflicting the joy on the crowd), surprisingly lighter in sound than I expected. 'Surprising' being the key word for the night – Kellin's [Quinn, singer] vocals were mind blowing. Another rock musician reaching towards pop/r&b roots and delivering memorable performance, the kind that gives you chills through your spine, because it's so good.

Also surprising, because it's another band that's not afraid to tackle the mental health issues (some might say that it's become a sort of trend to address it, but even if so it's still better that it's being talked about, especially by male role models, male musicians, 'cause it's been way too long those problems along with toxic masculinity were swept under the rug and people shamed instead of helped). So even a little gesture like song dedication for people who struggle with anxiety and depression can mean much more, because some might realize that they're not alone in this fight.

Anyway the show was intense, hectic at times – but it only showed the crowd had a good time and was more than ready for Good Charlotte.

Good Charlotte

It's obviously not their first rodeo but they seem humble and grateful every time I see them, every time they express how lucky they feel that they're allowed to carry on the journey and every time they deliver a fantastic show no matter the size of the venue, no matter the amount of people gather in front of them. Obviously bigger venue helps with going an extra mile and have pyro, killer lights and fireworks (which scare the shit out of you when they explode in thousand of sparkles with loud bang above your head) but it's the songs and stories that keep the show going. Like 'Hold On' which gets me every time, especially when I can't find strength to hold on and carry on. It's kind of an anthem for the broken and people sing their heart out just as they did that night in Alexandra Palace. Just like they did when they heard first tunes of 'Anthem' or 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous'. Good Charlotte always had songs that tap to your deepest fears,emotions. Hearing these live you can't contain in, you can't believe how close to home they hit so you sing your pain away ('Self Help', Actual Pain', ‘Shadowboxer’). You name it and talk about it, start the healing process in a way – which seems to be leitmotif for Good Charlotte’s latest album 'Generation Rx'.

Joel and Benji Madden always talked about emotions and problems they encountered, found the way that appealed to many and that created strong bond and keeps old guard beside them and welcomes new recruits into their ranks. They're not afraid of mixing styles, reaching to different genres to create something new so their pop punk/ punk rock anthems merged with energetic dance beats and electro pop tunes (like in 'Keep Your Hands Off My Girl' or ‘Dance Floor Anthem’ when the crowd went mental, got lost in sounds), they play with it, have fun and the crowd with them. The storytelling in the lyrics flares the dramatic side and you just get invested in it ('The Story of My Old Man', 'Predictable').

After all these years onstage they never cease to surprise: among all the songs you hope they'll be there or you know they'll be there there appear something old ('WaldorfWorldwide', which wasn't played in... 16 years!) and unexpected new ('Leech' – it was its debut live in Alexandra Palace and Sam Carter from Architects was the very special guest to make it even more special).

It was a celebration of decades of music, it was that moment that you felt that you belonged somewhere,  your teenage angst and adult anxiety,  fun times and sad all packed in fantastic show.

Setlist:

Generation Rx Self Help The Anthem The Story of My Old Man Keep Your Hands Off My Girl Girls & Boys Life Changes Actual Pain Shadowboxer Predictable The Chronicles of Life and Death Prayers Hold On WaldorfWorldwide Little Things The Young and the Hopeless Leech (feat. Sam Carter from Architects) The River Dance Floor Anthem I Just Wanna Live Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous