| re: Does Jim still "have it" as a writer? | |
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John_Galt (g_brandon_martin@ureach.com) 07:48 pm UTC 10/31/07 |
| In reply to: | Does Jim still "have it" as a writer? - rockfenris2005 05:18 am UTC 10/31/07 |
| Ryan, I really like StC and WPoMBHtM, but I'd like to see the bridge in WPOMBHtM rewritten to allow a little more of Steinamn's waxing poetic style. Great songs, though. The difference I've noticed between vintage Steinman and modern Steinman is that the later works are less conceptually or thematically tight. You're right that we see a lot of great lines, but sometimes it almost sounds like they were chosen because they are great, not because they are what's needed for the song. It almost sounds like the Steinmaniacs, where we've heard a cool and meaningful Jim line so we can't resist throwing it in there... even though it just seems forced to everyone else. Jim is still a great writer. He'd be an even better one (I think) if he just made a resolution not to recycle anything. It's oftentimes the recycled lines that sound forced or out of place. So Jim definetely still has the chops... but he has more of an expressive style and less or an integrated or organized sound musically and especially lyrically. -=John Galt=- > I was having a discussion with a friend, recently, and he > thinks that Jim doesn't really "have it" as a writer > anymore. I want to know what the rest of you think. > > All I know is...I hadn't heard new Steinman material since > "Tanz Der Vampyr", "Whistle Down The Wind", "Garbo" and > "Wuthering Heights". I was impressed with the first two, > but not so much the others... > > Then, like everyone here, I heard "Not Allowed To Love", > "What Part Of My Body Hurts The Most", "(It Hurts) Only > When I Feel", "Speaking In Tongues", "We're Still The > Children We Once Were", "In The Land Of The Pig, The > Butcher Is King", "Wonderful Toys", "Angels Arise/The > Graveyard Shift", "I Need All The Love I Can Get" and "Cry > To Heaven". I remember being thoroughly moved by both NATL > and BODY. A lot of people don't like NATL but it really > struck a chord in me, and the tune is to die for. The > words are also fiendishly clever, full of word-play and > double entendre. > > I've never heard Jim "ache" so much in his songs that he > does in BODY and "Break It", and "Still The Children", and > if "The Final At Bat" had come together...the way Jim > planned it...I think I would have liked it more than BAT > 1. "Paradise Lost" just seems to EMIT much more of the > original BAT than anything on BAT II did (although > "Objects" and "Anything For Love" came close... as did > "Frying Pan") > > So what do you think? Me, personally, I think his style at > the moment is just haunting...lines like "death has no > respect for fortune and fame", "our soul is a beast that > goes bump in the night", "nothing's gonna change the > truth, my night is better" and "forever is such a long, > long time and most of it hasn't even happened yet..." > resonate to me more than half of his classic stuff. I > think he's better than ever, now, because he's become this > old man who's writing about Peter Pan who's supposed to be > forever young. > > | |
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