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Walking into Clarksdale


Disturber

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This album was released in 1998. I did not hear it until today (this is a bit embarrassing), when I bought a used copy. 

It's like a lost gem. It's raw, but it sounds pretty good. Even though it's produced by Steve Albini. Never really cared for his production style, and sound. That is probably why I never checked this album out 20 years ago.

I saw the Page / Plant No Quarter tour.

Anyone else who likes the Walking into Clarksdale album?

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I intentionally didn’t buy it or listen to it because it wasn’t Zep. 

Now that I’m 55, I can say that was dumb.

This will go on my iTunes wishlist to download. I need to hear it.

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6 hours ago, Jakeboy said:

I intentionally didn’t buy it or listen to it because it wasn’t Zep. 

Now that I’m 55, I can say that was dumb.

This will go on my iTunes wishlist to download. I need to hear it.

Kinda the same for me. Not Zep and "produced" by Steve Albini - who really is not a producer, but a technician. That is the albums only flaw. The band performs great. It sounds great, but they could have produced it better, better arrangements, worked more with the songs prior to putting them on tape etc. Still, a very good album. But with another producer it could have been a true classic.

Is it on Itunes? I could not find it on Spotify, that is why I bought it on CD.

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It is on iTunes. I just now checked. 

Scottcald, you crack me up, brother. The album is too “dry”....lol...I get it. I think it’s funny how us musicians can convey ideas and feelings to each other via words which wouldn’t seem to fit.

I was recently telling my wife that though I dig Mick Jones’s playing in Foreigner, I found his LP into Marshall tone just too “tight”....it was very difficult to explain what I meant.

Kinda like dry, but I sooooo understand.

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6 hours ago, Jakeboy said:

It is on iTunes. I just now checked. 

Scottcald, you crack me up, brother. The album is too “dry”....lol...I get it. I think it’s funny how us musicians can convey ideas and feelings to each other via words which wouldn’t seem to fit.

I was recently telling my wife that though I dig Mick Jones’s playing in Foreigner, I found his LP into Marshall tone just too “tight”....it was very difficult to explain what I meant.

Kinda like dry, but I sooooo understand.

Yeah, I hear you.  I just like some reverb to make it more spacious.  Probably from coming up in the 80s and also listening to my mom's old stuff - Sinatra, Elvis, etc. 

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6 hours ago, scottcald said:

Yeah, I hear you.  I just like some reverb to make it more spacious.  Probably from coming up in the 80s and also listening to my mom's old stuff - Sinatra, Elvis, etc. 

That's Albini. Just room ambience. Taping mics to the walls and god knows where. Does it sound better? I am no fan of his sound. But on this album I think he did pretty okay, for once. It sounds fat, at least. Even though "dry". A good producer would have turned the songs around once or twice more, getting the arrangements down 100%, lifting the songs one step above what we hear now.

Walking into Clarksdale makes me think of Done with Mirrors. They are somewhat similar. Both very very good albums, it's all there in theory. But in Aerosmiths case it was a start for something new, a take off. For Page & Plant it too feels like a new start, but nothing more came out of it. I feel there could have been more, an even better follow up that we never got to hear. A bit sad.

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4 hours ago, Disturber said:

That's Albini. Just room ambience. Taping mics to the walls and god knows where. Does it sound better? I am no fan of his sound. But on this album I think he did pretty okay, for once. It sounds fat, at least. Even though "dry". A good producer would have turned the songs around once or twice more, getting the arrangements down 100%, lifting the songs one step above what we hear now.

Walking into Clarksdale makes me think of Done with Mirrors. They are somewhat similar. Both very very good albums, it's all there in theory. But in Aerosmiths case it was a start for something new, a take off. For Page & Plant it too feels like a new start, but nothing more came out of it. I feel there could have been more, an even better follow up that we never got to hear. A bit sad.

Funny you mention Done with Mirrors.  I love that album.  I actually love almost everything about it.  I actually like that more than some of their stuff that came later in the 90s etc.  They sounded like they didn't have good ideas anymore and the songs were formulaic.  And, honestly, the almost constant background vocal got on my nerves after a while.  

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39 minutes ago, scottcald said:

Funny you mention Done with Mirrors.  I love that album.  I actually love almost everything about it.  I actually like that more than some of their stuff that came later in the 90s etc.  They sounded like they didn't have good ideas anymore and the songs were formulaic.  And, honestly, the almost constant background vocal got on my nerves after a while.  

Yes, it is a great album. Dry sound there too. It's the first album I bought with Aerosmith. And it's pre the Bruce Fairbairn formula sound, which is a good thing. These days I listen to it far more often than Pump. But I love Permanent Vacation as much. 

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1 hour ago, Disturber said:

Yes, it is a great album. Dry sound there too. It's the first album I bought with Aerosmith. And it's pre the Bruce Fairbairn formula sound, which is a good thing. These days I listen to it far more often than Pump. But I love Permanent Vacation as much. 

Agree with you both. I loved Done With Mirrors from the minute it came out. No frills rock and roll on that album. While I dig Vacation and Pump too, they lost me after that until Honkin’ on Bobo came out in 2004.

Whitford  has some GREAT solos on Mirrors. And on Vacation too.

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2 hours ago, Jakeboy said:

Agree with you both. I loved Done With Mirrors from the minute it came out. No frills rock and roll on that album. While I dig Vacation and Pump too, they lost me after that until Honkin’ on Bobo came out in 2004.

Whitford  has some GREAT solos on Mirrors. And on Vacation too.

Really, I usually don't say anything unless I have something nice to say but. HOB just did nothing for me. They took a stripped down approach but that is not what the album ended up sounding like. Old Guitars, Old Amps, live drums, Great Players all around, great energy in the room, Jack Douglas you would have thought it was a home run, but I think someone just could not let go and let it be at that. Just five guys in a room hitting it like the good old days. 

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I thought that was exactly how HOB sounded....a return to the 70s sound, albeit through blues covers and not original rockers (with one exception).

If you watch the doc showing how it was filmed in Perry’s studio, it comes across that way to me.

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57 minutes ago, Jakeboy said:

I thought that was exactly how HOB sounded....a return to the 70s sound, albeit through blues covers and not original rockers (with one exception).

If you watch the doc showing how it was filmed in Perry’s studio, it comes across that way to me.

I'll put it in the car tomorrow and give it another listen. I shelved it a long time again because it just failed to make any impression on me. I really wanted it to, but didn't feel it. 

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