Galilee Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Listened to the clips of this new album on Victor's site last night. Am I the only person who doesn't get it? Great, great bass player, absolutely awful bloody music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wulf Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 What do you think of his other albums? I'd characterise his music as sometimes a bit too much towards the smooth jazz end of things for my tastes and occasionally twee but also rich with complexity and eclecticism. It is cleverly done and, while not as raw sounding as some artists, I think it does manage to have some emotional content. I've got Palmystery and several of his earlier releases (solo and with the Flecktones) and think this latest one is a worthy addition to the set. Wulf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6stringbassist Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 I think this is his best album to date. Anyone read his book ?. That's really good, at the start of each chapter there's a short bit of notation, if you add it all up it forms one of the tunes on Palmystery. He's at the Jazz cafe on July 5th. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galilee Posted June 24, 2008 Author Share Posted June 24, 2008 Hmmm, probably just me not being a jazz fan then, eh? I can (just about) understand the point of the bass-solo stuff on Show of Hands, but the clips I listened to from this new album just leave me cold. On top of that, I watched a video for I Saw God, and it made me cringe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatboter Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 On his other albums it bothers me from time to time that his name gets mentioned so much..."Hey Vic" "Yeah, it's Vic..." etc...etc... Gives me the impression that he likes to hear his own name really a lot. I didn't like the "I saw God" either.. Although I'm a big fan of his playing I'm not that impressed with his composing (rarely a great tune but he does play a nice riff from time to time and has a good energy and vibe). When I went to see his show a couple of years ago I got to meet him afterwards and gave him a solo-cd and asked if he would be willing to listen to it and send me a comment even if he didn't like certain things... He was very eager to have it and put it in his bag and promised me to have a listen and send me an email... I never heard anything from him.. Ok, so he is a busy man but if you don't have the time you can always say that to the people that hand you over a cd. I was a bit disappointed. I send him an email about our meeting but all I got was an automatic response. Still a great bassplayer though who influenced me a lot... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 I watched the 'I Saw God' video just now and it is definitely cringeworthy. On the second watch however I realised that it is quite clever to make something which is at least talked about and musically 'sound'. Some of the youtube comments are priceless as always. Shame about your CD Wombat, maybe you will hear him ripping off one of your tunes soon though eh?! Cheers ped Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil_the_bassist Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 [quote name='wombatboter' post='225994' date='Jun 24 2008, 04:24 PM']On his other albums it bothers me from time to time that his name gets mentioned so much..."Hey Vic" "Yeah, it's Vic..." etc...etc... Gives me the impression that he likes to hear his own name really a lot. I didn't like the "I saw God" either.. Although I'm a big fan of his playing I'm not that impressed with his composing (rarely a great tune but he does play a nice riff from time to time and has a good energy and vibe). When I went to see his show a couple of years ago I got to meet him afterwards and gave him a solo-cd and asked if he would be willing to listen to it and send me a comment even if he didn't like certain things... He was very eager to have it and put it in his bag and promised me to have a listen and send me an email... I never heard anything from him.. Ok, so he is a busy man but if you don't have the time you can always say that to the people that hand you over a cd. I was a bit disappointed. I send him an email about our meeting but all I got was an automatic response. Still a great bassplayer though who influenced me a lot...[/quote] I've had similar experiences with named pro musos (not quite as big as Vic W,) and I think it kinda sucks how a meeting like that lifts your hopes only to be kinda sh*t on as they're too busy to talk to us Little People. Do you think it's their way of gettin payback from when someone did the same to them...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzz Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Is the title a euphemism? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MythSte Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 I do rather like it actually, but i must admit, whenever i listen to it after listening to some of Marcus Millers essentials im left wanting more! Id care to note i do actually prefere Wooten as a solo player, but boy does Miller know how to write a track! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisnameistaken Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 I can't help feeling that most of Wooten's "virtuoso" stuff just plain sounds bad. All the fast double-thumb slapping and stuff? To me it sounds like someone dragging a bass along behind their car. I suppose we need people like him anyway - all that stuff probably filters down into listenable music eventually - but I can't listen to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oscar South Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 I don't like this CD at all, but I've never really been a Wooten fan. Or a Marcus Miller fan, can't stand his 'cheesy jazz funk then slap the melody' style. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ou7shined Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 (edited) This ain't really my cuppa chai but I thought I'd give it a bash. There's some stuff on here that I have no connection with at all and therefore just can't listen to. I'm not even sure how to categorise it.... 80's happy clean funk jazz??? But some of it was ok, like the first track "2 Timers" it's kind of Zappa-esque. "The Gospel" sounds like it's got legs - wanted to hear more of it. I've heard "Song For My Father" before (I think Us3 used it as a sample) starts off familiar but descends into that 80's stuff that they play over Teletext at 4am. So there you go a Philistine's guide to Palmistry. p.s. I can't believe he took a credit for programming the bass drum on "Us 2". Edited June 25, 2008 by Ou7shined Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJE Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 I have always watched and admired him as a player and marvelled at his ability and technique but musically I just dont like it. Same as marcus miller, Manring, to name a couple, great technique but song wise and composition wise it just bores me. I love bass but I enjoy a good tune more and listening to what a bass player can do in say a great pop or rock song excites me more. from what I have heard and read seems like a nice chap though and as I said great technique. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oscar South Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 (edited) [quote name='NJE' post='226722' date='Jun 25 2008, 02:36 PM']I have always watched and admired him as a player and marvelled at his ability and technique but musically I just dont like it. Same as marcus miller, Manring, to name a couple, great technique but song wise and composition wise it just bores me. I love bass but I enjoy a good tune more and listening to what a bass player can do in say a great pop or rock song excites me more. from what I have heard and read seems like a nice chap though and as I said great technique.[/quote] I disagree about Manring, I really like his approach and musicality, I think some of his compositions can rival the best rock and pop songwriters and considering that most are performed on only a 4 string bass (albeit fretless, 3 octave neck, tuning-alterers on both ends of the string and mic'd body) he achieves a decent level of diversity. I think his ensemble work is great too. Edited June 25, 2008 by Oscar South Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ou7shined Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Yeah I'm just in awe of Manring. especially this piece... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oscar South Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 (edited) [quote name='Ou7shined' post='226736' date='Jun 25 2008, 02:59 PM']Yeah I'm just in awe of Manring. especially this piece... [/quote] Lol, thats extremely well done, the part where his signal starts cutting out and he looks over to his equipment is genius, and how his grimaces are timed with the wrong notes. I thought all those had been removed ages ago and the maker banned because some of the other artists got annoyed. Edited June 25, 2008 by Oscar South Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatboter Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 I just like to listen to virtuoso bassplayers since I think that maybe their way of playing might trigger a small idea in my head which makes a bit more sense to me than their virtuoso playing. If I can colour up my playing a bit by using the information they give me in large doses then that's fine with me..I just steal from everyone and try to incorporate it in the way I play. The ultimate goal is to have my own style, if that would be possible....but the journey is also very nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutToPlayJazz Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Palmystery is the best album Victa's produced since the Yin-Yang (or at least the Yin instrumental half, anyway!) album of 1997. All the stuff in the middle comes across like half-baked funk which sounds more like ill-thought-through hip hop gone wrong! I love all of his technically exciting instrumental-only music, but the vocal stuff just doesn't work for me at all. His style of playing blends a lot better with the Flecktones, where he's not just to be seen as a diva, but as an equal to the other three. (All the Flecktones have acheived god-like status in musical terms!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.