yeh....seems liekk that's the cool thing to do now. PLay a "classic" album in it's entirety.

that's a load of crap. seriously, questioning whether or not one enjoys live music because they want to see a specific record played?


i am definitely getting tired of the Don't Look Back meme but I've seen some great ones...getting to hear specific songs that would likely never get played normally is the allure for me.

plus, sometimes the record is a complete musical statement on its own (cf. _Feedbacker_ or _Millions Now Living_).

I don't think I can bear bands playing a song the same way they recorded it more than once, maybe twice. It's not what live music is about for me anymore. Personal opinion and all that.

I could understand Daydream Nation, I could even understand Liquid Swords... but MILK MAN?! Honestly?

Well, it's slightly hyperbolic certainly, but what is the point of live music? Do we really just want to see perfect reproduction? I mean, we're talking rock music, so it's hardly like any of these shows are going to replace the flawless reproduction with any sense of theatre (which is what proper pop music does). I'm not saying everything should be freely improvised or anything, but I get the real impression that people who go to these gigs will be complaining of missing the next generation's don't look back bands because they were too busy fetishising someone else's youth.

I'm with you on the Feedbacker point though, no criticisms there.

And The Soft Bulletin isn't even a record that is a classic by FL's standards. Not a big fan of theirs, yet they made better records than this. My guess is that it's aimed at people who bought it back then, were told by the influential(read: trendy) fringes of the press that it's a masterpiece of cinematic beach boys nonsense, and now moved on to your Newsoms and Animal Collective thinking that they're on the pulse when
it comes to experimental music. The sort of people who still think that temping for Channel 4 is a cool job.

but i think the point about perfect reproduction holds true for regular setlists too. a lot of it is down to the band, and how they normally function in a live setting. hell, when the Melvins did Houdini @ the ATP in england, they screwed around w/ the track order (Thurston did this for his Psychic Hearts set too, and didn't even play the entire record, nor did Robyn Hitchcock for _I Often Dream Of Trains_...but hearing "Heartful of Leaves" after more than a dozen of shows w/o it just about made my decade).

anyway, i hear you about people listening to older music at the expense of newer music, but i'm in my mid 40s and i grew up w/ this shit so i get a free pass :D

Oh, come on - like that wouldn't be the greatest fucking thing ever.

Mind, I'd go and see the Flaming Lips playing Zaireeka if they cloned themselves 3 times and played a slightly different set from each corner of the room. Has anyone got Barry Hogan's phone number?

Who the fuck would complain about the Look Back Series? Pointless. Why would anyone complain about anything related ATP? Just enjoy the fucking music. Radarmaker, fuck right the fucking fuck off. You're "taking piss" out of enjoying music fucking wanker-ass tosser.

Yeah, what the hell? That's their worst album! I mean, none of their albums are "classic", anyway, but RUNNER'S FOUR would make the most sense, wouldn't it?

At least Dino is performing Bug, instead of Living..

I'd like to see a Boredoms DON'T LOOK BACK, doing Super AE or something, that'd be unreal!

Do you read Mojo as well?

Barry Hogan is brilliant. ATP aside, he curated Music Lovers' Field Companion, probably the best festival I ever went to. And I like that ATP records gave Fuck Buttons the chance to be very big indeed. But still. Don't Look Back is just a bit tacky really. Making once-important bands into museum pieces. That's fair enough for the Stones (for instance) because they've stopped creating decent music, but someone like SY shouldn't really be ready for that (although, in fairness, they haven't turned out a decent record since Murray St, in my eyes).

I don't think realy agree with the nostalgia arguement in regards to these concerts any more than I would for buying or listening to records that aren't current releases, or when a band plays an older song in a set of newer material at a show. And I say that as someone with a distinct aversion to nostalgia.

the flaming lips perform soft bulletin...
ha.. oh dear, if it was in apriest driven ambulance i would be ok..thats cool!

look its a case of bums on seats. soft bulletin is the easy option, personally i think its the first sign of the f.lips dissappearing into the abyss of blandness but the majority class this album as a classic....i dont!

by the way i hear the next dont look back is some band that havent been formed yet doing a classic album in full which they will write in 20 years time! yep...novelty worn off!

what does "taking piss" mean?

Taking the piss means that they are joking at your loss. For example,

"Hey Rob, How would you like to take my sisters virginity after her Playboy photo shoot?"

Sure, OK!

"Oh, not really, I am just taking the piss"

Soft Bulletin is a fav, of mine. Don't know how any could not like it." Its only ten yeras old though.

It was actually only recently I found out 'taking the piss' was a British phrase. Hooray for localised dialect.

I've been going to shows for 40 years and I'd much rather be surprised by the setlist then know what I'm going to hear going in. If someone plays a song exactly like the recorded album chance are they're lip-synching.

Last time I checked Mojo was about the The Beatles, the White Album, The Beatles, Led Zep, The Beatles, Paul Mccartney, Bob Dylan, and The Who, WITH a dash of Oasis sprinkled in there to keep it current. No major articles on The Flaming Lips, Dinosaur Jr, and Deerhoof. So no, I actually DON'T read Mojo you ignorant fuck, actually take time to look through a Mojo before you try to link ATP to some shitty British music mag.

Anyways, The Soft Bulletin makes sense for the Look Back Series, since those dorks at Pitchfork gave it a whopping 10/10. I would prefer Yoshimi. That was the first 5.1 disc I blasted on my newly purchased Samsung 5 disc 5.1 player back in the day. Heaven. Love that album. Never got into Bug yet, I really like Self-Titled. Milk Man on the other hand is a strange pick, gotta listen to that.

I have no issue with this festival concept. Its a special niche, and there's nothing wrong with that.

It raises appreciation for the body of work that is an album, which is falling by the wayside way too fucking much in rock right now. If properly done, a complete, sequential, playing of the album live could be an amazing experience for fans who have already lived with the albums for a while