Face To Face With Disapointment

So, it took a while to let the whole reality of the Slint show to sink in. It wasn't good. On many levels. To begin with, I've never really been a huge fan of Spiderland. I think it's overrated as an album. Add to that, I think it's boring music. But I'm told that it's an important album. And I can understand it's importance. I went into the concert believing that I would finally figure out what all the hullabaloo about this band was, that in a live setting, maybe I'd figure it out. They played the whole album note for note. Reality set in. I don't like this.

The concert is part of this Don't Look Back series from the people behind the All Tomorow's Parties festivals. Bands go back and play their penultimate albums, Sonic Youth plays Daydream Nation, Slint- Spiderland, and GZA does Liquid Swords. I thought I'd be in love with this idea, it sounds like something right up my alley. I LOVE Daydream Nation and Liquid Swords. I've had plenty of conversations with music nerds about how I'd love to see this or that band back when they were making this or that album. And it would have been amazing to see Sonic Youth closing out a set, in the end of the eighties, with the Trilogy. It would have been amazing to be in a youth hall when Fugazi were working out the songs on 13 Songs, or Black Sabbath in an abandoned Birmingham movie theatre, playing stuff from their first album. These bands revisiting those great things now, I'm not sure how great that is. (Though, I've given this a lot of thought, GZA doing Liquid Swords would just be great, no matter what, even if he played a tape of ODB on "Duel Of The Iron Mic"...) I'd love to hear Sonic Youth kick into "Cross The Breeze" in the middle of a contemporary set... I guess what I'm getting at is that this idea turns these albums into museum pieces. To play the album without any context of the ensuing years since the album... it's the closest indie rock gets to playing the $5 BBQ Fest concert with Glenn Fry at the ampitheatre. It's a nostalgia trip with an ironic title.

Okay, dinner's ready. I'll stop there, but one thing quickly that's related. On the deluxe reissue of Daydream Nation, there's a cover of the Beatles' "Within You Without You". It's amazing. I was expecting b-side wankery, I was gladly proven wrong. Okay, enchilada time.