stewie wrote:Definitely not crap. An inspiring band, and a beautiful experience live.
I couldn't say it any better. Simply wonderful stuff. I was even glad they were used in a GAP commercial, if it put some well-earned cash in their pockets.
Band: Low
17"Taking Down The Tree" is in heavy rotation this fine holiday season
I heard them doing an early Bee Gees song on some comp a guy in LA sent to my then coworker some years ago, and that was great. The Christmas CD is excellent, I concede. Most/nearly all of their original output is tedious & uninteresting, though. I suppose it's a matter of taste to some extent. It's clear that other many people like to watch the fly crawl up the drape, the paint dry, the grass grow, etc., though I think they're failing at what they're setting out to do. I like the later Talk Talk and solo Mark Hollis stuff a ton, and a big part of that stuff for me is the way that space is part of the layered structures and the feel, which is along the lines of what I see Low attempting. I very much like that Low hammered out a concept and stuck to their guns over the long haul, but since I like their somber tone and attention to negative space best when applied to other peoples structures and ideas, I vote crap.
In my own personal purgatory I feel relatively certain I’ll be bound to a pole while a new Low 5xLP + bonus live disc plays on shuffle and an imp with halitosis prods me awake every 2.5 minutes.
And I suppose if I was in the band and I'd seen a reaction like that I'd take it as a clear sign I've succeeded in my art.
So who knows.