 |
| Me Reluctantly Deciding It's Time for New Speakers |
Salsa and Cheese:
A few years ago, we had some family over for a barbeque. (Yes, another post with a barbeque story.)
My niece (not the one with the fire extinguisher, her sister) and her boyfriend were tasked with bringing dips for the nacho chips. Tostitos Melted Cheese was a thing at the time, although I never had much use for it, seeing it as a heart attack in a jar. Nonetheless, the zeitgeist had spoken, and we expected salsa and melted cheese. And we got it, technically.
Alas, instead of two separate jars, they made an executive decision to mix the two together into one big tub of gooey slime. Perhaps seeing the look of dismay on my face, they were quick to insist it was "so good" this way. I tasted it, for research purposes of course. The rest of the family voted with their tastebuds and it sat there more or less untouched.
Which is good and just since the salsa diluted the thick gooey-ness of the cheese, and the cheese blunted the sharpness of the salsa. And it looked like, well, bloody vomit. Seeing the lack of enthusiasm, they rationalized that "it all goes to the same place anyway". I beg to differ. It's how it gets there that matters.
Bass and Treble:
During the early part of the Covid shutdown, looking for small joys as Armageddon approached, I decided we needed better speakers for the family computer. This realization was painful for me as I was always a punk-rock-lo-fi-anti-snob. ("Speakers shouldn't matter!") Yet even I was never quite satisfied with the ones that came with the computer, and I figured enough time had passed that new ones would have to be better.
Alas, my anti-snobbery came back to bite me in the ass as I didn't know good speakers from cans with strings attached. I ended up getting analog speakers again which, if anything, sounded even worse than the original ones. Shocking how you can't rely on Amazon user ratings.
It took some time for all this to sink in. Surely, I thought at first, the computer must be the problem. So I twiddled a few knobs hoping for salvation and then suffered in non-silence for a few more years.
When we finally got a new computer last month, I held out for the possibility that those replacement speakers would magically sound better now. Alas, they sounded just as shitty as before, so I finally broke down and got new speakers. And wouldn't you know? Suddenly everything sounded great.
The lesson, kiddies, is to keep that hi-fi equipment up to date! I recommend Quadrophonic speakers, which I avoided for the longest time because I thought they'd only play Quadrophenia. Not true. Other Who albums work, too.
That voice in my head said Uh Jaybee, how could you be sure it wasn't just a case of listening to better music? So I put on two albums I'd gotten a few months back that were not measuring up and used them to test the new speakers.
And Houston, we had separation! The salsa came out of the left speaker and the cheese came out of the right one. Just like God intended.
Two Things Reconsidered:
Elliott Smith: Figure 8 (2000)
Curmudgeon and ultimate casualty, Smith wasn't easy to like. and I didn't, at least not as much as I thought I should.
My first record by him - and still my favorite - was XO. It featured Smith with a small band, which enabled him to balance out the quiet/confessional with Beatle-ish pop. And while a bit lightweight, it was also modest, tuneful, and sweet.
Then I got Either/Or which came out before XO, and was mostly Elliot solo and lo-fi. It was also not as tuneful and a bit nasty to boot. A big disappointment. I stopped there, at least for a while.
Then Jaybee Son Mike raved about this one, which came out after XO, so I thought I'd try it.
Old speakers: It leans more heavily on Smith with a rock n' roll band. Although louder seemed a natural progression for Smith, more wasn't necessarily better. It rocked but all sounded the same.
B+
New speakers: The band now had more definition. I could make out the individual instruments! And the lyrics, too, which were nasty as ever, but clever. Lucky for us, Smith puts a hummable melody on every song.
A-
Sufjan Stevens: Javelin (2023)
Old speakers: The latest Sufjan was somehow coming up short. It was as melodic as his other records, yet the impact was minimal. You don't usually have to wait a few listens for an SS album to sink in. The first listen does it. This time that didn't happen. Nor did subsequent listens.
It could be that - five albums in - I'm all Sufjaned out. (Point of diminishing returns, use of my dwindling time, and all that).
Here are the SS albums I've got already, in ascending order of "ornateness". I've included my overall rating, too. It's only about 25 percent of his total, and all pop, with none of his orchestral output.
- Carrie and Lowell: Nearly sere folk with some minor flourishes. A-
- Seven Swans: Serene acoustic religiosity A-
- Michigan: More orchestration, yet still modest, and miles from rock n roll. A
- Illinoise: Rivaling Michigan in its scope, with better production, more energy, and the occasional electric guitar. Some transcendence, A
As you can see, my admiration for SS only increases when he incorporates more musical elements into his records. Thus, Javelin should fit between the mournful Michigan and the joyful Illinoise. Still, I'm not moved.
B
New speakers: Now there was actual separation and clarity. The dynamics - previously absent - now were front and center. And sure enough, his melodies began to do what they've always done. I love some of it and greatly admire the rest.
Plus, there's his great cover of Neil Young's "There's a World." A relief, as his covers don't always hit the mark. In this case, though, I think he beats the original.
A-
One More Thing, Reconsidered:
Given the huge difference the new speakers made for these two records, I had to wonder what other records I misjudged. There was one I specifically called out for a muddy sound, and gave it another shot, and it sounded ever so slightly better, and even there I might have been kidding myself. Alas, no great revelation to be had, except the one that says the Clash didn't need great sound, but Teenage Fanclub sure did.
In other words, the speakers didn't matter. This time.
