Post by bigfish on Aug 9, 2009 12:57:39 GMT -5
I think I will take a minute this week to describe a little about my process for naming my catch of the week. Maybe you care, maybe you don't. But it's my time and my article, and this week seems like a real good time to do it.
Round 1 - I make a run through everything on bass. I start here for a couple different reasons. It's almost always the easiest chart, and i can get a good feel for the song as a whole. I don't have to be so focused, so i can listen a little bit to what is happening with the drums vocals and guitar. It helps quite a bit to familiarize myself with material i might not have heard before. From here i can often rule out a few songs for being obviously inferior to the rest of the pack. This may seem unfair, as though i didn't give some of them a chance. But take Jane's Addiction as an example. Summertime Rolls, Jane Says and For The Boys are obviously not contenders in the ranks of Pig's In Zen, Ocean Size or Had a Dad. And playing them further isn't going to change that. A slow or boring bass chart isn't always grounds for dismissal, but combine that with a song that is generally inferior to it's peers that week and it is out. This week saw several hit the chopping block right out of the gate. Not really because the charts were so bad, but becauses i just couldn't see myself ever wanting to play them again.
Round 2 - The remaining songs get played on guitar. I don't usually diqualify too many here. I play through everything and then decide if anything should be cut, again just for being vastly inferior to it's peers. I usually don't weed too many out here, as I have already liked it enough to want to play it some more, and i like to at least get to the drum tracks before i make that kind of decision. I like to look for decent solos and interesting chord combinations and patterns i might not see very often.
Round 3 - Drums.... this is always the most difficult for me as i'm really only a tier 3 expert drummer. If I'm still failing a song after 2 or 3 runs at it i will back it down to hard. It's not difficult to see the merit in an expert drum chart even while playing down a level. And this is typically where a couple more drop out. If a song was really just not terribly impressive on bass or guitar and the drum track didn't completely redeem it then it's out.
Round 4 - I'm typically down to about half of the tracks at this point, possibly less. I like to do the vocals last because it gives me the opportunity to hear the song and know what is going on before i dive into singing a song i have little familiarity with. And after this round I am hopefully down to 2 or 3 tracks that have stood out well beyond the others.
Round 5 - Of the remaining tracks I play them all again on every instrument and i usually have a winner. And this is where i've run into trouble the last several weeks of DLC. Almost nothing has been head and shoulders above the rest for several weeks now. So what do i do? I actually go back and play some tracks that had previously been disqualified on instruments i hadn't tried yet. just to see if i missed anything.
This week was a little easier than most. Many of the tracks were tossed simply on the fact that I never want to hear it again.
It came down to about 4 tracks for me after playing through both bass and guitar, though i did go and replay some others on drums after getting down this far just to re-assure myself that i had made the right choices. By the time i got through the vocals i had it down to 2 songs, and I have played these through several times on all instruments and found quite a bit of fun in both of them. My final decision?
Heavy Duty
The bass is nothing special but none of them are this week. Some slow HO/PO's to keep it mildly interactive.
The guitar has an interesting chorded HO/PO riff, a couple of decent solos that prove that these guys can actually handle an instrument, and a BRE that requires you to HO/PO up and down the scales followed by a couple quick chords to get the bonus. Nice!
The drums are quite fun with charted fills, and rolls down the toms so overbearingly often you start to understand the over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek nature of their music, and the style of music they are spoofing. Luckily the rolls and fills aren't that tough and are quite satisfying when you start nailing them perfectly.
The vocals are an FC sightread, with talking and enough forgiveness in the pitches to add some personal flair. I have struggled severely on vox with the previous spinal Tap offerings, so this was quite enjoyable. And honestly, if you can't have fun with it and not take singing Spinal Tap too seriously, then what's the point in the first place?
Cheers - to Big Bottom, for being the earliest historical record of the term "Mudflaps".
Absolutely the best vocal chart of the week. The only one to literally make me LOL when i heard it. Will be great fun to sing at parties, or to the girl that keeps showing up to my house uninvited. A solid choice for your 2 dollars as well.
Jeers - To HMX for charging full album pricing for what is by and large a novelty act, with little more relevance than, Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Partridge Family, Don Johnson or Eddie Murphy.
Hope you enjoy this weeks edition of the $2 catch of the week. Gorillaz? Janis? Jefferson Starship? I haven't been this excited for DLC in a very, very long time. Remember mileage may vary per user, all opinions welcome. Please discuss.
Round 1 - I make a run through everything on bass. I start here for a couple different reasons. It's almost always the easiest chart, and i can get a good feel for the song as a whole. I don't have to be so focused, so i can listen a little bit to what is happening with the drums vocals and guitar. It helps quite a bit to familiarize myself with material i might not have heard before. From here i can often rule out a few songs for being obviously inferior to the rest of the pack. This may seem unfair, as though i didn't give some of them a chance. But take Jane's Addiction as an example. Summertime Rolls, Jane Says and For The Boys are obviously not contenders in the ranks of Pig's In Zen, Ocean Size or Had a Dad. And playing them further isn't going to change that. A slow or boring bass chart isn't always grounds for dismissal, but combine that with a song that is generally inferior to it's peers that week and it is out. This week saw several hit the chopping block right out of the gate. Not really because the charts were so bad, but becauses i just couldn't see myself ever wanting to play them again.
Round 2 - The remaining songs get played on guitar. I don't usually diqualify too many here. I play through everything and then decide if anything should be cut, again just for being vastly inferior to it's peers. I usually don't weed too many out here, as I have already liked it enough to want to play it some more, and i like to at least get to the drum tracks before i make that kind of decision. I like to look for decent solos and interesting chord combinations and patterns i might not see very often.
Round 3 - Drums.... this is always the most difficult for me as i'm really only a tier 3 expert drummer. If I'm still failing a song after 2 or 3 runs at it i will back it down to hard. It's not difficult to see the merit in an expert drum chart even while playing down a level. And this is typically where a couple more drop out. If a song was really just not terribly impressive on bass or guitar and the drum track didn't completely redeem it then it's out.
Round 4 - I'm typically down to about half of the tracks at this point, possibly less. I like to do the vocals last because it gives me the opportunity to hear the song and know what is going on before i dive into singing a song i have little familiarity with. And after this round I am hopefully down to 2 or 3 tracks that have stood out well beyond the others.
Round 5 - Of the remaining tracks I play them all again on every instrument and i usually have a winner. And this is where i've run into trouble the last several weeks of DLC. Almost nothing has been head and shoulders above the rest for several weeks now. So what do i do? I actually go back and play some tracks that had previously been disqualified on instruments i hadn't tried yet. just to see if i missed anything.
This week was a little easier than most. Many of the tracks were tossed simply on the fact that I never want to hear it again.
It came down to about 4 tracks for me after playing through both bass and guitar, though i did go and replay some others on drums after getting down this far just to re-assure myself that i had made the right choices. By the time i got through the vocals i had it down to 2 songs, and I have played these through several times on all instruments and found quite a bit of fun in both of them. My final decision?
Heavy Duty
The bass is nothing special but none of them are this week. Some slow HO/PO's to keep it mildly interactive.
The guitar has an interesting chorded HO/PO riff, a couple of decent solos that prove that these guys can actually handle an instrument, and a BRE that requires you to HO/PO up and down the scales followed by a couple quick chords to get the bonus. Nice!
The drums are quite fun with charted fills, and rolls down the toms so overbearingly often you start to understand the over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek nature of their music, and the style of music they are spoofing. Luckily the rolls and fills aren't that tough and are quite satisfying when you start nailing them perfectly.
The vocals are an FC sightread, with talking and enough forgiveness in the pitches to add some personal flair. I have struggled severely on vox with the previous spinal Tap offerings, so this was quite enjoyable. And honestly, if you can't have fun with it and not take singing Spinal Tap too seriously, then what's the point in the first place?
Cheers - to Big Bottom, for being the earliest historical record of the term "Mudflaps".
Absolutely the best vocal chart of the week. The only one to literally make me LOL when i heard it. Will be great fun to sing at parties, or to the girl that keeps showing up to my house uninvited. A solid choice for your 2 dollars as well.Jeers - To HMX for charging full album pricing for what is by and large a novelty act, with little more relevance than, Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Partridge Family, Don Johnson or Eddie Murphy.
Hope you enjoy this weeks edition of the $2 catch of the week. Gorillaz? Janis? Jefferson Starship? I haven't been this excited for DLC in a very, very long time. Remember mileage may vary per user, all opinions welcome. Please discuss.
This wasn't my favorite of the week, but I did like it a lot. We sort of aggree! Huzzah!