>> Nate went on tour with Christ on a Crutch to Europe i think and thats
>> when SDRE wrote as a trio, with Jeremy on Bass.
i'm no expert, but it was my understanding (and every account i've heard says) that dan actually played bass when nate was in europe.
>> i really want to know who's responsible for all that
>> amazing stuff on Diary and LP2- did Enigk write that basic chord
>> progression and Nate embellished it with all those fills?
this is something i think about often...not this specific example, but just the question of "how much influence/veto power does [insert frontman of any band here] have over [his band]?" sdre has always seemed, to me, to be driven by enigk's passion and vision. i've always kind of thought of them as "enigk and a few other guys". i've always felt the same about the smashing pumpkins (and the band has even, at times, admitted that corgan is a bastard about having his way and that he totally controls the artistic direction). only from a few bands that i really love, most notably hum and radiohead, have i gotten the feeling that what we hear on the finished record is really and truly the result of a music-making democracy.
it might just be a matter of enigk's passion overriding everyone else's...i don't know. but it seems connected to the new feeling of "we're a happy threesome band!!!" that sdre seems to be giving to the press. it sounds as though they're really writing more as a group than they were before. there's no way for me to know, obviously, but that's the vibe i get from interviews. between that and the fact that they're all older and have different viewpoints and whatnot, i think there's a correlation to be made with the seemingly bad opinion that so many people have of The Rising Tide. i think it's a good record, but it is almost completely devoid of passion. we hear people talking about fans crying when sdre play "song about an angel" in concert...i really can't imagine anyone crying over "television". this lack of passion seems to be directly connected to this feeling of unity that the band is showing us. maybe it is, maybe it isn't...but maybe it's also something of an answer to scott's question; that answer being, "enigk might have had a lot more to do with the writing than the other guys". also important right at this moment is to compare the old material of the times...compare the Flatland Spider songs to the Thief, Steal Me A Peach songs. released in the same year -- one without enigk and one with. the later songs are leaps and bounds beyond the earlier.
i can't help thinking about the cure, here. enigk doesn't have the reputation for control that robert smith does, but i can't help but bring this up. the cure's three most profound records (Seventeen Seconds, Faith, Pornography) were recorded early in their career, at a time when smith was exhibiting what could be called "scandalous" control over the band's output. his despotism during that period is legendary among cure fans. he kept his vision undiluted by bandmates and made masterpieces. Diary and LP2 are, like the aforementioned cure albums, solid passion. they are, honestly, ROTFQ with different sounds. it seems that we can't be given a clue as telling as ROTFQ and still think that enigk didn't have considerably more say than his bandmates on Diary and LP2.
i don't know if i even support my own hypothesis, but i think it's interesting to think about and i'd be interested in getting other opinions on anything stated above or related to the things above.
(sorry for getting a touch off-subject, scott...)
.shawn
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- read:
http://www.insomething.com
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- a new, interpretive literary project
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