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Post by Gerrald Bostock on May 11, 2014 14:01:31 GMT
You are in charge of everything about Homo Erraticus. What would you do?
Possibly a different running order of the tracks. Or even eliminating some of the tracks. Have some totally new tracks in place of some of the exiting tracks. Change the mix of the album to bring the instruments out more in the front of the mix. Add instrumentation in or in certain parts of a song. Eliminate vocals or a lyrical line or change a chorus.
What are the strong points and the weak points to the release.
It is your cup of tea to tweak, to alter or even add or subract.
Or would just leave alone as it is.
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Post by bambooflute on May 12, 2014 15:00:30 GMT
You are in charge of everything about Homo Erraticus. What would you do? Possibly a different running order of the tracks. Or even eliminating some of the tracks. Have some totally new tracks in place of some of the exiting tracks. Change the mix of the album to bring the instruments out more in the front of the mix. Add instrumentation in or in certain parts of a song. Eliminate vocals or a lyrical line or change a chorus. What are the strong points and the weak points to the release. It is your cup of tea to tweak, to alter or even add or subract. Or would just leave alone as it is. Whoa! Great thread... If I was producing "Homo Erraticus?" Well, now that you asked... In my opinion, there are definite things that could be done to enhance the strengths of the album. The weakest tracks are "Enter the Uninvited" and "Puer Ferox Adventus," and, being the the third and fourth songs, they really harm the flow for me. So, I would remove them altogether. This leaves us with an album of around 40 minutes in length, comparable to some of the 1970s releases, but we could beef it up a bit. Two great, recent, and unreleased songs that IA played in concert were "Hare in the Wine Cup" and "Tea with the Princess." I think that "Hare" could be included with only a slight tweaking of the lyrics to make it fit with the concept (IA could tie in the the baby hare's "migration" to the garden with the concept of humanity's migration in "Doggerland."). "Tea..." was performed san lyrics in the UK in 2010, and could appear in that form here. That way the album could boast two fine instrumentals instead of just one. Another thing, I would end the album with "The Browning of the Green." It features a musical reprise of the tune from "Doggerland," which would bring the album full circle, in much the same way as the original "Thick as a Brick" reprised its opening tune at the end. I look forward to other people's ideas! - David
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Post by progrockdeepcuts on May 12, 2014 15:22:34 GMT
I wouldn't omit anything, just more SOLOS! More flute, guitar, Hammond, heck even DRUM solos!! Even a few instrumental workouts wouldn't hurt; it would elevate the music to soaring heights and improve the album immensely.
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Post by bambooflute on May 12, 2014 15:48:57 GMT
I wouldn't omit anything, just more SOLOS! More flute, guitar, Hammond, heck even DRUM solos!! Even a few instrumental workouts wouldn't hurt; it would elevate the music to soaring heights and improve the album immensely. More solos would have been welcome, yes! - David
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Post by prestonplatform on May 12, 2014 18:26:53 GMT
I wouldn't omit anything, just more SOLOS! More flute, guitar, Hammond, heck even DRUM solos!! Even a few instrumental workouts wouldn't hurt; it would elevate the music to soaring heights and improve the album immensely. More solos would have been welcome, yes! - David Great thread ..enjoying reading your views. David ..I think you are totally correct about more instrumentals. Tea with the Princess would have been brilliant.
progrockdeep cuts ...once again I find myself agreeing with you ...but you do have great taste ..you even like Beardfish ....
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Post by Gerrald Bostock on May 12, 2014 19:31:51 GMT
I must say after multiple listens my opinion of HE is changing, although there are 2 tracks I would remove completely track 3 Enter The Uninvited and track 14 Per Errationes Ad Astra. Enter The Uninvited started off really nice and at 57 seconds went away for me. I would loved to of heard this as a just an instrumental. For me it was really a distraction and it just did not work. It was really strong the music was taking me on a journey and then the lyrics kick in, IMO I just do not get in to Pizza Palace , Gi Joes, and the rest of the lines through out the song or the style in which Ian sings it rappish style. I wonder how good the song would be as just an instrumental, that is what I would of done leave it an instrumental. The other song I would just eliminate would be track Per Errationes Ad Astra. I really did not like the "churchish" feel this had and I really did not like the spoken voice style and the words again did nothing for me. That said 2 weeks ago I disliked a lot more, I am changing my opinions of this disk. It was easy to say what I did not like so I will do this in a few parts. My initial rating of 2 star disk is moving up to 2.75 with a bullet.
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Post by Quizz Kid on May 12, 2014 21:16:33 GMT
I'll have to give this one some thought, the first thing though would be the loss of the 'rap' part of 'uninvited' and the line about officer Rick. But, there's much less I would change now than when I first heard it.
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Post by Tulltapes on May 12, 2014 23:09:43 GMT
It's tough to answer this without sounding like you don't like the record.. or sounding like a Monday morning quarterback. I give Ian a lot of credit for coming up with another collection of good songs in little time. There are many good things I like about HE but just to pretend I were in charge I would first and foremost take out all the early 90's style rapping verses in Enter The Uninvited and all the lyrics about "Facebook" and "The Walking Dead" etc.. ugh! ..makes me cringe. That could have been a great song otherwise imo. New Blood Old Veins has a very cool odd groove to it but I would have made the change less straight forward. Browning of the Green could use new lyrics! Has a couple good moments but could have been much stronger with a different change I feel.. Again, some of the songs start strong and the changes aren't as exciting. I would have changed the chorus on Pax Brittanica, just a little too jolly. I actually think the first minute of Puer Ferox Adventus could have done without the sound effects. I think just some strings there would have been enough, otherwise, the flute instrumental sections are really great and the most Tull-like on the album. Meliora Sequamur reminds me of a quirky psychedelic song from the 60's maybe. It's pretty unique for an Ian composition and in that respect I do kind of like it. Tripudium Ad Bellum is a great Tullian jam and I find nothing wrong with it. I would have made at least half this record instrumental. The melodies are strong enough to stand up without vocals, although I think Ian's vocals do sound really good at points on this recording and Ryan's doubling up strengthens them considerably. After these Wars doesn't do it for me I would have re-worked it. I know what Ian was going for and I'm sure it's a popular favorite for some but I can live without it. Guitar solo could be right from Metallica's The Unforgiven and while played well, I find it way to 80's power ballad cliche'. The spoken word stuff would go.. It's non musical to me.. a skipper!! There was more than enough on TAAB2! Cold Dead Reckoning is a good closer to the album but the little bit at the very end should have lasted another few minutes or have been a whole other tune. I do actually like the production of the record a lot. I think it's a good Ian record, better than TAAB2 but no WITL or Divinities. I do look forward to and will enjoy seeing it performed live.
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Post by Quizz Kid on May 13, 2014 13:51:35 GMT
well, I thought about it a bit more last night as I was listening to it, and started to compose a further reply and found I was beaten to it as that sums it up pretty much for me. It carries more weight coming from you as a credible musician [unlike my wannabe status].
I have to agree with every point you make. The starting point has to be that this is not a bad album. I had severe reservations about it at first, but maybe I was expecting too much after the prog/metal/folk hype, distancing that and taking at face value as an Ian Anderson solo project with obvious references back to his Tull catalogue it's a credible and enjoyable piece of work [with the occasional slip].
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Duncman78
Cub Scout
The superhighway: you pays your way….. you takes your choice, change your horses, raise your voice.
Posts: 40
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Post by Duncman78 on May 13, 2014 22:25:05 GMT
I don't know why everyone disses the 'rap'. It's only a little and fits in nicely. (Wounded old and treacherous now on the go :-) ) . Having listened to HE 100+ times ( foreground, background etc) there's not a lot I would change, except let Scot rock out a little more and bring Flo forward into the mix - a lot of great work going on but often drowned out by keyboards, flute or voice.....which I have to say is sounding great on record and equally great live. Happy Days
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Post by progrockdeepcuts on May 15, 2014 3:11:02 GMT
I think you're absolutely right! Part of what made APP, TAAB, and SFtW so great was the fact that they were so varied and eclectic. This is absolutely a direct result of 5 heads coming together! HE (while great, don't get me wrong), definitely has one voice throughout the entire album and this may be why some don't like it.
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Post by bambooflute on May 19, 2014 23:36:58 GMT
When I first saw this question posted I balked at answering. As it seems a little presumptive. I've read so many opinions from a lot of people on the internet, including people that declared this a master work of literary genius before it was even released! I have resisted temptation of listening to the pre released samples and wanted to make up my own mind on the Erracticusus. I think though one of the big differences and probably big problems people seem to be having with the album is that it "doesn't sound like Tull" "It's too derivative of earlier Ian works" "Not enough musicality, no solos or the solos sound dullish". Well it is an Ian Solo recording. Using the band he uses for just that. I know this has been fought over back and forth in the past but I believe it to be true…and that is: Since the beginning of John Evans involvement with Jethro Tull, Ian has written the songs on his guitar with lyrics (which gives him the writers credit) and presented them to John, Martin and Barrie who then along with Ian actually make, or ARRANGE, the song into the music that we hear complete with time changes, solos and little things we've always loved yet all revolving around Ian being the centerpiece of the band, the front man, singer, acoustic guitarist extrodinaire, flute player and entertaining master of ceremonies not to mention the man that conceived the song concept in the first place. They (the band, Jethro Tull) were willing and needed participants. This is not taking ANYTHING away from Ian. Its just something some people need to accept before then moving on to listen to what Ian is doing nowadays with his solo band which is a wholly different situation. One of his first solo releases relied heavily on Peter Vitesse (Walk Into Light) the next relied very heavily on Andy Giddings (Divinities) both schooled musicians, for arrangement (Thats no small thing, it may include one of the favorite parts of a certain song you've heard) So in trying to form an opinion on the newest record (same with TAAB2) Im realizing that Ian isn't presenting this to the band with the expectation that they are going to take his guitar roughs and arrange all this into a piece of music that has their input stamped on it. He's laying it out for them and assigning parts to an already "arranged" song. No solos evolve naturally and no, or its less likely that "improv" is going to happen. I think the band has tightened considerably as a unit though from constantly playing together and thats great. SO In answer to the question (after all this rumination) is that if "I" were Ian…..I would sit down with and bounce things off of O'hara and Florian and Hammond and let them run with some things, and maybe the other heads would give Ian a second or third opinion about things as they develop and a little different creative slant might be put on some of the things we may like less then others. Thats no slam on whats been done or the abilities or perceived lack there of the guys in the current band. They've been hired to add instrumentation to Ians finished songs. And BTW I really like Ians concept of this record. He continues to be one of the bigger thinkers in the world of "rock?" music and I am still entertained by that aspect of the Ian of today. (More on that later) Now….I could be completely wrong about all this crap and you may think Im full of that crap. If so tell me why…..Id like to know. Darin C Cody Very interesting post, Darin. Thought-provoking, which I what I like! You raise some good points about the input from others in the band down through the years. While I am a bit disappointed in H.E., I'm not sure it isdue to lack of involvement from the other guys in the arrangements, etc. I LOVE TAAB2, and apparently IA is responsible for presenting it to the guys as a complete package, as well. He may have wrung himself dry after TAAB2, however, and needed some input from the band for this release. Hmmmm.... Both approaches to writing/recording an album are valid (says I, a non-musician). However, I think it's cool that IA does contribute every note and arrangement on certain albums. As a visual artist, I can appreciate one mind on a project: a singular vision that creates a piece of work. There are times when "art by committee" can be a bad thing. Conversely, there are also times when a collaborative album really works ("Divinities" is one prime example you mentioned). It's fun and stimulating to ponder these things. -David
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Post by lucas on Jun 1, 2014 23:01:31 GMT
Well, I like the album, but would change a few things, like giving Ryan much more vocal appearances, having more instrumental passages overral and so.
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