So did you pick up PJ Harvey or Sonic Youth?
"Or"? How 'bout "both"?
Listened to PJ all the way through, and I really like it so far. The buzz on this record is that it's kind of going back to the rawer sound she had with
Rid of Me and
To Bring You My Love, and it's going away from the slicker sound she had on
Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea. I like the first single, "The Letter", a lot, and the vocal stylings of "You Come Through" have been going through my head on and off all day. Good stuff.
As for the Sonics--haven't listened to the full album yet, although I do like what I hear so far. To tell the truth, I saw 'em live back in March, when they had just finished up recording this album, and the new stuff didn't do a whole lot for me at the time. But now, hearing a few of the songs on the record that they played at the show, I'm likin' 'em a lot more. (Probably that whole thing at shows when the band plays new stuff--it's kind of hard to get into sometimes.) But, so far, it seems like a really solid record so far, and I've seen a few people that are saying that this is the best record they've done since the
Sister/Daydream Nation/Goo/Dirty days.
Both records are $10 at Best Buy this week--great deal.
(And both PJ and SY are playing the same day at Lollapalooza in Dallas in August--that's going to be a f--king trip. First time to see PJ--can't wait.)
As for VR--well, I haven't listened to the full thing yet. A few tracks here, and a few tracks there, and although it seems like decent rock music, nothing's really stood out to me so far. I'll have a chance this weekend to really sit down and listen to it (and the others), but either this is a lot more bland than it could have been, or my tastes in music have really changed since back in the late eighties and early nineties, when I was a huge GN'R fan. Probably a mixture of both.
I'm still glad to see the guys working again (especially Slash and Duff), but I'm considerably less excited about them after the stuff I've heard than before.
Still--I'm hearing all kinds of good stuff about their live show (doing their own originals, plus GN'R and STP classics, and a Nirvana cover or two). Really looking forward to seeing them in Dallas two weeks from now. . .
I'm using you as a guide for whether either might interest me...
Don't--don't do that.