Whale Music

WHOMEVER SUBMITTED THIS IS MY HERO. Please give this album the time it deserves. I bought it soon after release based on a bit of buzz and...I just didn't get it at first. Overwhelming which led to me thinking it was boring? Confusing? I remember feeling bad but putting it aside and after giving it a week or two I tried again....and something clicked and holy shit.... every new spin revealed something new. The songwriting, the musicianship, the guitar playing, 3 lead vocalists which never kept things too stale. It still feels fresh to me 30+ (!!!) years later. This has to be among my 5 most-played albums ever and it IS a proper album meaning I've tried to put tracks on mix tapes (yes cassettes) and early mix CDs but individual songs lost something. The sum is greater than its parts etc etc. This band has meant a ton to me over the decades and I believe in an alternate universe Rheostatics would be a parallel to the Beatles in terms of diversity and influence; but this was their magnum opus. Plus NEIL FKNG PEART plays on it. 10/10 5 stars. IMO: Belonged in the book? Yes.

Whale Music is a rock album by the Canadian band Rheostatics. It seems to be a thing as it's been selected as one of the best (top 10) albums from Canada several times. I don't get that as there is so much great Canadian music to be found and is is mediocre at best. This album tries too much. It goes all the ways in styles, tempo and ideas. For me it starts ok, but then I get a clusterf**k set of songs consisting of sort of daddy rock annoying middle of the road stuff ("King of the Past", "R.D.A. (Rock Death America)" and "The Headless One"). I think the guitar playing and production is top notch. The band has to decide if they want to be a stadium rock commercial vehicle (like Toto) or a real band with integrity. Now it's a mess due not making up what is the plan. This album has a lot of things to like, but too much to hate.

Totally thought this was gonna be sludge metal off of that cover. There's something going on with all these Canadian alt rock suggestions on the list, because every time I listen to one of them I have the exact same reaction of: "That was fine and I will now proceed to never think about it again, strong 2/5." Anyways, that was fine and I will now proceed to never think about it again, strong 2/5.

Wow this was very different. Even different from other quirky Canadian bands which I tend to love. A lot of unique things here that I haven’t fully wrapped my head around, but its great!

Wow talk about a blast from the past. I remember listening to Rheostatics in like 2004? I can't remember which album or anything and none of the discography ring a bell, but someone had sent me them to listen to. This was weird Canadian music that I feel would fit into the list. No one else is quite doing what they are doing here and given the lack of Canadian artists, I am slightly leaning towards being okay with adding it in. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 4/5 Should this have been included on the original list? Slight yes.

I haven't had any Canadian alt rock in a while, and unfortunately this one isn't any better than the other ones I had. Though the band do seem to be pretty talented musicians, so credit for that. Whale Music is basically a combination of The Tragically Hip and Neil Young, it has the poppy alt rock of the Hip, and the country/folksy/rootsy sound of Neil Young, also the singer kinda sounds like Young. The album flicks through a variety of different genres that were popular in the early 90s but it settles on this for the most part. Unfortunately I don't have much interesting to add, it's pretty standard early 90s alt rock, and when it's doing this it's probably at its best. There's a particularly annoying track which just seems like a rant about guns over a drum solo, pretty preachy. Should it be on the main list: No Top 3 songs: Queer, What's Going On Around Here, Soul Glue

Eclectic, but very good

Never heard of them before. At times I actually thought I was listening to David Bowie singing for a different band.... kind of a stretch though. The album seemed pretty good. I'm definitely glad I got a chance to hear it. I think it will grow on me as I continue to listen to it. Solid 3.5 / 5

The first song made me think I would hate these wanna be cowboys but the second disabused me of that idea, why do these canadian alt rockers all have so much sonic diversity and homely whimsey? Nothing Earth shattering, but all well done and fun

I’ve known the Rheos my whole music listening life. Seen them live a few times. I will say this is a record that grows on you over time. It’s long. It’s complex. It jumps around stylistically but still hangs together. This record doesn’t have a lot of stand out tracks but is more in the sum is greater than its parts type thing. This consistently shows up on Canadian best albums of all time lists. However it needs multiple listens which this list is not conducive to. If you get a chance to come back to it please do.

On the fence about this initially - in spite of this band I hadn't heard of having clear pedigree as Canadian indie rock royalty, and the album featuring an impressive roster of outside collaborators. A lot of the singing is relatively weak, and lyrically it frequently wanders into monologuing territory. It grew on me though with its obduratelty off kilter lyrics and solidly grounded rock. Extra point for Neil Peart feature, RIP.

This was significantly better on a second listen. Not sure why. Didn't mind it on the first, but the second time had my interest.

I came across this album not long ago for some reason. I thought it had been through this project, but searching back I don't see it. Anyway, however I found it I'm glad I did. It's really good. 4 stars.

I immediately got the similar vibes to the Barenaked Ladies to find out that there was some feature!? Great combo and that already makes me feel better about them. I liked it right away- it's different but not in a bad risky bad way like in a good fun way. I feel like in order for me to understand it to its full potential, I would have to listen many times, but I did really like it.

Interesting music, awful production values. The drum sound is terrible -- still using eighties resonances that had already aged like milk in 1992. The electric guitar overdrive sound and the overall mix are also pretty weird. The vocals are an acquired taste, let's say (one lead singer is laughably off-key in "Palomar", for instance -- same thing in "Beerbash" and in quite a few other tracks, actually). With a different presentation or a better performance, those vocals could have come off alright. Which is where I sense a wasted potential. Apart from that, Rheostatics' *Whale Music* is *still*, as I said, interesting music, displaying very idiosyncratic songwriting chops and very inventive musicianship. Contrary to the production values, all those assets somehow come off as fresh or at least endearing today. David Bowie is an obvious inspiration here, along with three very recognizable music styles: prog-rock, punk folk / sea shanties, and yeah, a bit of nineties Canadian alt-rock, admittedly. This is far less bland or hackneyed than Barenaked Ladies, though. Fortunately... There's even a bit of P-funk basslines mixed with... accordion (!) on deep cut "What's Going On Around Here". This mix of styles actually gives to Rheostatics the appearance of a less ironic Ween. Still hard to take fully seriously, but varied and adventurous enough so as to never get bored, at least -- even if I'm far from being *thrilled*. It's still nice that this act didn't exactly follow the trends of the early nineties -- trends that I love, but only for the real great artists, and not the copycat ones who didn't show a lot of imagination. Contrary to those lesser artists, this Canadian band had a *lot* of imagination -- maybe to a fault given how a large swath of the tracks meanders a little too much, in spite of some wonderful moments (example: ballad "King Of the Past", going from unfocused MOR rock to very nice chamber pop, thanks to that beautiful strings arrangement at the end). Instantly memorable choruses are also missing here, or so it seems to me (I guess the user who submitted this doesn't give a rat's ass about good choruses since they gave Nirvana's *Nevermind* a very low grade). And the album is long. Like, really looooooooong. A minimun amount of self-editing would have been welcomed. Contrary to what that *other* die-hard fan up there suggested, Rheostatics' reach still exceeded their grasp way too much to pull off a "White Album" on you. But from what I saw, that other user can't understand certain kinds of intensities in music -- whenever they feel overwhelmed by those particular intensities, they simply shut off their chakras. That's how they ended up giving one star to *all* the Nirvana albums in the original list, just as they gave one star to the Velvet Underground and Wu-Tang Clan debuts. I don't care who your hero is. Because if we're talking about "musical" heroes, you need to demonstrate a minimum amount of objective skills as a listener. You complain about Kurt Cobain's vocals, but you can't even realize that half of the vocal performances on *Whale Music* are technically off-key. Just as The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne is very often off-key, to take one example of your favorite albums in the original list. And don't get me started on how Eddie f*cking Vedder whines all the fucking time. Actually, it doesn't matter what my personal mileage on those acts is (I still love many albums by The Flaming Lips, for instance). What matters is that for some legendary artists, you need to let go of the "I" a little and try to understand why their input made such gigantic waves in music history. And then exercise caution. Ironically, Cobain's vocal lines borrow a lot of harmonic ideas from the Beatles, which the user I am talking about is a huge fan of. To put it bluntly, you can find far more "Beatles" in *Nevermind* and *In Utero* than you will ever find it in *Whale Music*. Did this user even realize this? Or are they doomed to stay on a surface level, just because as a singer, Kurt Cobain used his throat a little too much for their delicate tastes? Sorry for the rather aggro digression. Whenever I check the profiles of certain users, I always tell myself that everyone's different, and that I need to be open-minded. But here, what I saw in the stats and some of the reviews was too appalling for me. Rest assured that I had already decided on my grading for *Whale Music* before I checked those profiles -- my "end credits" were already written -- and that doing so didn't influence me the least. To return to that Rheostatics record, it was quite daring for this act to explore the tones found in this record in 1992, at least. So to the first user who suggested this LP, I say thanks for this submission, whoever you are. I didn't exactly have a whale of a time, but I understand why this record continues to make waves for a certain subset of dorky Canadian rock fans. I'll see myself out. -------------> 2.5/5 for the purposes of this list dedicated to essential albums, rounded up to 3. 7.5/10 for more general purposes (4.5 for the musicianship and production values + 3 for the artistry) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 122 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 140 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 312 (including this one) ---- Salut Émile, Tu pourras lire ma dernière réponse sous le *Little Criminals* de Randy Newman. A+.

I get where the 'Bowie' comments are coming from. Not my cup of tea but pleasant enough. Feels like an 80's concept album

Another decent Canadian alt-rock band on this list, and Whale Music fits right into that pattern. Pretty okay. The band tries its hand at a whole range of styles across the record, and to their credit nothing here is annoying. Nothing really stands out either. Fun enough while it's on.

Canadian, of course

Indie rock. Ni fu ni fa.

I really enjoyed this album. I had it on while I did other things, as usual, but unlike some other albums, tracks on this one broke through to make me actively listen.

Pretty good sound. 3.5

A strange mix of bluesy glam, jazzy TV theme tunes, David Bowie & Dave Matthews inspired alt-rock, and Can-Con lyrics (more hockey references than any album I’ve heard before). It’s an eclectic, sometimes incoherent, blend of angsty and bright, dissonant and poppy, straight and psych, country twang and post-punk noise, heartland and urban, proggy arena rock and barroom folk jam. Way too bloated - all the songs had something good to them, but then they’d keep going and going and include a bunch of boring extra stuff like long outros, genre shifts, overly complex arrangements. Same for the album as a whole.

Not bad

These guys are SO Canadian Sometimes they sound a lot like BNL, who are contemporaries of theirs. I wonder who is copying whom, or if it was just something in the air in the early 90s. That’s when I like them the most. A lot of the rest of this 70 minute album is kind of noodling around and gets tiresome quickly. But I can see how they have fans! I could even see myself becoming one someday.

Favourite songs: Kings of the Past, Self Serve Gas Station, Beerbash, California Dreamline, Legal Age Life at Variety Store, Queer, "Rain, Rain, Rain" Least favourite songs: Guns, Shaved Head 3/5

Weird, sometimes good

Enjoyed this one

Pas mal sûr que ça serait juste des sons ben aigües

Some enjoyable indie folk, felt like a Canadian version of Drive-By Truckers. Sits right at the edge of a 3 for me, most of the tracks felt unique and genuine, but others seemed to drag on and be somewhat homogeneous. Couple that with the hour+ runtime and this one did test my patience, but overall I think I mostly enjoyed it.

Indie rock. Ni fu ni fa.

Rating: 6/10 Best songs: Rain rain rain

Better than actual whale music, but not hugely memorable. Pleasant enough though, and very, very Canadian.

What is it with all the Canadian bands on here? I wasn't keen on The Tragically Hip, disliked The Weakerthans, and I'm not too keen on this either. This is trying a little too hard to be quirky; ends up sounding like the theme tune for a Nickelodeon show.

Self Serve Gas Station // 2.5/5

Quirk and Canada...you would think BNL but this is more ethereal and waaaay more quirky. No thanks.

1. They're no doubt amazing guys - love their mums, never forget a birthday etc etc. 2. No doubt great live. 3. This is the first 'user generated' album I've listened to and it is not a great listen. Just too much going on all the time. Too long. The sound of everyone huffing and puffing, but not offering a single memorable tune. Sorry Canada.

I am not quite sure what this was but it played while I listened

Wtf

This made zero impression on me. Can't tell you about any song, any riff, or even any note. I know I listened to it, but my mind retained nothing.

Are you guys serious?