Look away, Frank! Look away! 👀 You must hear last song, after the 20 seconds of dead silence. Also check out their Sober video from that MTV era on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/QUblNcWl5KY
https://youtu.be/QUblNcWl5KY
Are there any Tool fans here?
I feel that Undertow is far superior sounding than any others, especially the new one. It was recorded at Sound City back in the day where some of the best albums were recorded. Its console was the Neve console that Dave Groul now owns. Vintage gear and Eqs on that console can not be reproduced.
56 responses Add your response
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geoffkait ... Yes, a romantic ballad at that. |
Hey guys, if you're not a Tool fan, there's no reason to digress this thread into some other kind of topic. As far as the OP is concerned, I actually like the Mer De Noms album by A Perfect Circle (Maynard's other group), especially Magdelena. Although, if you like Tool, you may get a kick out of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxviGrBMKKY I'm sure oreganpapa is going to vomit over this one as well. lol. |
I love Tool but not a big fan of Undertow. I really like Fear Inoculum now after giving it a dozen or so listens. I think the sound quality is quite good. I bought the Hi Res download off of HD Tracks. Others complain it sounds compressed, but it really shines on my main rig. I hope that's a good thing. |
I’m not one to judge the musical tastes of others, but ... This: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJqkN1w0fFg vs This: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxviGrBMKKY My point about judging the demise of our civil society based upon ten-year increments in music? ... I rest my case. :-) And by the way, that Cannonball Adderley/Bill Evans album is a must-have. Great performance and demo-quality sound. Frank |
The funny thing is is that I have my whole music library on J River Media and have the greatest jazz albums from Bill Evans to Sonny Rollins "Way out West", but I also have a broad taste in other things besides the standard and like to experiment with modern sounds, especially those that have been around for 20 years. You guys can have your opinions I was just considering the sound quality of the album. |
zyphryx ...
Yes. The best cut is on side two, cut three. Truly a great album. Frank |
This guy, Colin O'Donohoe, does a good deconstruction of Lateralus. Even if you do not like the band you have to give them kudos for this level of effort. https://youtu.be/WKYd3u8r3uI |
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My point about judging the demise of our civil society based upon ten-year increments in music? ... I rest my case. :-) You know what? Every generation says this same thing about the "young kids". I don't really agree with this because the "best music" is always what the current generation has grown up with. |
“I’m not one to judge the musical tastes of others, but ...“ But yet you are. Music is so extremely personal and regardless of what your ears hear and what you prefer, it doesn’t always translate to others. One could cherry pick weird, offensive, lame, terrible etc.. tunes from every generation and say the same thing. This is way off point from the OP and isn’t fair. Start a new thread |
auxinput ... There's no question that what you say is true. I clearly remember my parents complaining when I first discovered BeBop jazz and Rhythm and Blues. They were still hung up on the Big Band jazz from the 1940's. We watched a lot of the Lawrance Welk TV shows back then. When Louis Armstrong first heard Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, he was very dismissive of BeBop, saying that it sounded like "Chinese music." He hated it. But then, he was a classic jazz musician, in the New Orleans tradition. My intent isn't to put down anyone's taste in music. You should hear some of the stuff I listen to. *lol* In looking at, and listening to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxviGrBMKKY I'm sorry, but it is coming from a place I definitely don't want to explore. Frank |
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^^^ I’ve got two words for ya, Geoff ... and it’s not "Happy Birthday." *LMAO* nses03 ... Sketches of Spain? Hey, I’m still hung up on "Birth of The Cool." :-) Frank |
It's inevitable that we date ourselves: we've all got a little of Paul Lynde inside of us: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3PvcpWbUIg&t=17s All the best, Nonoise |
redlenses03 ... This one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S1UC4GKcvU&list=PLVG1KRr_9ktFPDolNocVHs3YDmI6XngEb One of the coolest jazz albums ever. Frank |
As a side digression, many people just don't like metal and think it's a bunch of losers. However, if you really pay attention to the video below, you will see how complex and talented these musicians are. The drummer (original drummer) is an absolute genius! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsECcz6I3BA I have been following her for years and she actually does an amazing cover of Tool's Forty Six and 2 (back to our original conversation). Some of the drum progressions in this song are complicated as well!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Yw8aaqnnrg As a history lesson, I did grow up hating Lawrence Welk (which my dad forced us all to watch, lol). I became a total Kiss fan at 9 years old in 1978. Loved many different types of music (rock, metal, rap, r&b, country, classical, jazz, etc.). Currenty, my two "go to" genres are metal (duh) and traditional jazz (Diana Krall, Norah Jones, etc.). I recently got 3 new hi-res albums from Anne Bisson (available on her website as USB drives). They are absolutely amazing and have some of the best recording quality I have heard to date! (albums are Blue Mind, Portraits & Perfumes, Tales From The Treetops). -- oh, oh. I also had the opportunity to get a couple bottles of wine (cab blends) from Caduceus Cellars (Maynard's winery). They are actually very nice. If you're interested, also watch the movie "Blood Into Wine" (documentary on the vineyard). |
I have enjoyed Tool since the beginning, and have been fortunate to see them live through the years. Nothing quite like experiencing Third Eye live. My personal preference prioritizes artistry over sound quality. That being said, the audio on Undertow is the best: more air around instruments, better bass articulation. I love all the albums, but think the late albums sound compressed. One symptom for me is a nagging urge to keep turning up the volume, but it still never sounds ‘right’. I don’t get this feeling on Undertow. (Does this happen to anybody else?) I recently downloaded the last three albums at 96/24 from HD tracks. I want to say they seem slightly improved, but purelt from the perspective of sound quality they don’t have the sparkle and depth of Undertow. Fear Innoculum seems to be a slight improvement over |
I just saw Nick Cave live in his ‘Conversations’ tour. He puts the priority on performance and connection with his audience, giving his all everyday. As a bonus, the fidelity of his recordings is quite good. Much better than TOOL recordings, for example. After taking audience questions for three hours, and providing quite long answers about his artistic process, etc., only one question elicited a one-word response from him and it was in regards to sound quality. His answer was “what?” He regarded it as such a basic question, that he didn’t even bother to answer it. I wish TOOL would take sound quality seriously, and release remastered versions of all previous albums. |
I'm not a fan of Tool, and have no comment on the quality of their recordings. I suspect they, like most others, take their work seriously and have invested significant time and resources in their work. Occasionally I make videos of our motorcycling adventures, and my process begins with collecting media assets, organizing those assets, finding the right music, and editing the video to that music. This is a video I made with a Tool track for my best friend from high school. I guess you could say, this is what the song means to me now. I hope they (Tool) would be honored that I chose their music to compliment the spirit of our adventure. https://vimeo.com/46799222/general |
Now, THIS is some great drumming! I love drummers who play music, and she certainly does. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Yw8aaqnnrg Here's a tribute to the person who was arguably the best jazz drummer of all time ... and no, it is not Shelly Manne: Click on each picture for the videos. https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video;_ylt=Awr9BNoYrLVdAcYAJT5XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEyNDloNHFiBGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwMzBHZ0aWQDQTA2MDdfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=stan+levey+drummer&fr=chr-yo_gc#id=4&vid=c542367ae55fdc75adca5ff89a1e41b2&action=view |
Lifelong fan here, enough to call them my favorite band of all time. Saw them live 8-9 times, my 10th coming up in a few weeks. It's funny, despite the 'prog rock' label, I always enjoyed Adam Jones' minimalist take on his guitar parts and sounds. He lets the band breathe. Danny Carey brings the math into the band, but it's so far away from any of the conventional prog rock that I have trouble listening to. Maynard is, despite his seemingly infinite capability for projecting his voice, a melodic, graceful virtuoso. And Justin Chancellor's bass, I would argue, is the single biggest 'signature sound' going in rock music right now. There is nothing like it. Ironically, some of the comments that look at Tool's surface and connect it with 'society's decline' or whatever - it could not be further from the truth. Just spend some time with the Lateralus album. Try to get past the density, the noise, whatever you're perceiving that makes it intimidating to you. The whole album, literally, (laterally?) is about human progress- on a personal level, as well as as our species as a whole. I'm also pleasantly surprised at some of the comments about Undertow being their best album sonically. Interesting- makes me want to revisit the album from that perspective. Undertow always sounded a bit 'naive' to me in its production, especially drums, ESPECIALLY the cymbals. But that 'naivete' does translate to a more intimate, (and arguably truthful) recording style as far as critical listening is concerned. As the band's conceptual frameworks expanded, so did their sound, and the sound became 'bigger', which I enjoyed. Ænima still has some my favorite recorded moments of music in history. (The intro / first verse to "Eulogy"!). The sonic punch of "Lateralus" is hard to match by any other band on the 'harder' side of the rock spectrum. Lastly - I've really really enjoyed the last album Fear Innoculum. It's a completely different beast. It will take years for people to truly digest it. I just keep nibbling on it. |
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zyphryx - nope. I live in California and had a friend traveling to Arizona. I asked him to get me a couple bottles of the wine. They don't do straight cabs anymore. It's all blends of one sort or another. On another note: Ironically, some of the comments that look at Tool's surface and connect it with 'society's decline' or whatever - it could not be further from the truth. Just spend some time with the Lateralus album. Try to get past the density, the noise, whatever you're perceiving that makes it intimidating to you. The whole album, literally, (laterally?) is about human progress- on a personal level, as well as as our species as a whole. There's a big misconception here from non-fans that there is a big decline based on music. A lot of people don't know or don't realize that there is an extreme amount of complexity in rock/metal. Many of the metal artists over the years write about complex issue as well as social issues, depression, politics, war, etc. Here's a zinger. Back in 1991 I was a big fan of this group, but as I went through the lyrics I made a startling discovery that this was a tragic love song! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6LL5iA6y9o I thought it was very interesting at the time. |
auxinput ... I checked out the last Youtube link you posted. I think I'm starting to get it. I liked the intro instrumental. Reminded me of Pink Floyd. Now if only the vocalist could be replaced with Mel Torme' I'd be all set. *lol* Frank |
Tool is far more progressive and psychedelic in genre than "metal." Especially the further you go in their catalog. I just saw Tool here in Los Angeles. Took my 4 year old (how's that for "destroying minds and spirits, etc.?") Her first live concert and she loved it: lasers, projections, odd time signatures and all. I've seen Tool 20-something times, starting in 95/96. Without question, four of the greatest rock musicians in the world. Just like there are comedian's comedians, there are musician's musicians, and Tool falls squarely into that category. Undertow and Ænima both always sounded a little darker (sonically) to me, compared to the more recent albums. Lateralus is a little too bright, and can be a bit grating for me. There are some great recent podcast interviews with Danny Carey about the process of recording and mixing Fear Inoculum. |
I got a notification that a comment I made was deleted and it did not violate any of the standards. The one I made was in response to a comment on how bad things may look 10 years from now. It had nothing to do with Tool as it was an aside, like the comment it was based on. I like Tool and have two of their CDs but I grew out of them many years ago. When a hear a song of theirs it brings a smile to my face, reminding me of things past. People need to stop reading between the lines. If it triggered some guilt, which was not my intention, grow a thicker skin, or think twice before you pounce, lest you betray some inclinations you don’t want others to be aware of. All the best, Nonoise |
nonoise ... Four of my posts were removed from this thread as well. None of the forum rules were violated in any of them. Go figure ... Frank |
geoffkait ... You ain't heard your stereo system until you've played Dean Martin's "Dream With Dean" album. No joke. Frank |
