Batman Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 (edited) The Shaggs Philosophy of the World Released on January 1, 1969 31:39 1. Philosophy of the World 2. That Little Sports Car 3. Who Are Parents 4. My Pal Foot Foot 5. My Companion 6. I'm So Happy When You're Near 7. Things I Wonder 8. Sweet Thing 9. It's Halloween 10. Why Do I Feel? 11. What Should I Do? 12. We Have a Savior Betty Wiggin Porter - rhythm guitar Dorothy Wiggin Semprini - lead guitar and vocals Helen Wiggin - drums Rachel Wiggin - bass guitar In a 1970 issue of Playboy magazine, Frank Zappa named "Philosophy of the World" his third favorite album. Many alternative music afficionados consider "Philosophy of the World" one of the most important albums in alternative music. It has been praised for being "important" and "honest and earnest" and "original." Well, I'm going to tell you right now, "Philosophy of the World" is the worst album I have ever had the misfortune to listen to. The music in this album is quite terrible. It seems as if each member of the band is playing in a different tempo and time signature. The two guitarists (and bassist on one song) are out of tune. None of them have any talent in musicianship. At this point in the review, you may be thinking "well Batman, who cares about technical skill, I bet they're still good songwriters!" Let me tell you, they are terrible songwriters as well. All the songs sound like something you'd find in a beginner's guitar book. No interesting chord structures or anything. All the songs sound incredibly similar, and they all give me a headache. Snobby music afficionados will praise this album forever, simply because they want to impress those who haven't heard the same terrible albums they have. Cub Koda, from the All Music Guide, is one of the mentioned afficionados. His statements regarding the album are completely ridiculous. I would like to examine a few of these now, as he seems to speak for many music snobs. "The guilelessness that permeates these performances is simply amazing, making a virtue out of artlessness" I agree that the album is artless and guileless, but that doesn't mean it's enjoyable to listen to. "There's an innocence to these songs and their performances that's both charming and unsettling." There's also a charming innocence to a child whacking a Fisher Price xylophone. "creating dissonance and beauty, chaos and tranquility" Beauty? What beauty?! This album is ugly. And tranquility? Try boredom. "causing any listener coming to this music to rearrange any pre-existing notions about the relationships between talent, originality, and ability." If there is a person enjoys this enough that it changes their opinion on what good music is, that person does not deserve to listen to music. I'm usually all for the "different strokes for different folks" approach to music, but if you enjoy this album, I'm sorry, but you really do have bad taste in music. "There is no album you might own that sounds remotely like this one." Phew! That's a relief! By the way, that quote is another example of a music snob bragging about his knowledge of music. This album is a prime example of the terrible things that can happen when music takes the back seat to a band. You can praise them for their individuality, innocence, and honestness, but none of those things help their music, and thus, they should not be praised as a band. F- Edited March 11, 2006 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earth-Angel Posted March 11, 2006 Report Share Posted March 11, 2006 Batman, there is something wrong with your image as it is showing it has either been hotlinked or has been deleted from your account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted March 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2006 oops, sorry...didn't notice that. I think I hotlinked it from Amazon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted March 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2006 actually, I did it from Imageshack...that's weird. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earth-Angel Posted March 11, 2006 Report Share Posted March 11, 2006 Weird indeed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted March 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2006 So...guess I convinced you not to listen to "Philosophy of the World," eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earth-Angel Posted March 12, 2006 Report Share Posted March 12, 2006 lol nothing of the sort - well, actually - yes "There's an innocence to these songs and their performances that's both charming and unsettling." There's also a charming innocence to a child whacking a Fisher Price xylophone. I think it was this bit that did it for me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil Posted March 13, 2006 Report Share Posted March 13, 2006 I agree the music is dreadful. The album cover is priceless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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