What do you think of Spinal clock?

[BelieveIntheBucket]

@D

i havent heard all the new album, but i agree that the effort/quality seems low on some recent stuff. it seems like bh is just trying to release as much LE\'s and drawings he can to get a few bucks. but neither seem super great in quality (i have listened to best regards). ....no one has to buy them, its just a little disappointing.

this might just be because he is not feeling super great, still recovering, and needs some $. but, i still agree it seemed to start before for that. for me, ever since he started touring by himself i was like \'wtf\'

but maybe low effort isnt the right term. because it should be effortless (and it usually is). i think he is just lacking attention to quality (even though quality is subjective).

i would rather see fewer releases in higher quality, but i understand if he is just in need of some dough. you can think of it as a buckethead donation with a bonus cd

(that being said, i have liked a lot of his new stuff, the LEs probably arent just great cuz they seem like one take without attention to detail/quality)

[beau810]

I agree... not that Earth shattering!  but thats what I figured it was from listening to the samples, so I didnt spen the extra chsh on the LE.  I do love the fact that it adds to my collection and it ifts well with my DCK playlist.

Hes recovering...
Hes released Shadows Between the Sky this year...
Surgery is expensive...
He has given us a glimps of his life...

I am also sure he is working on somthing special that we will all love!  He always is!

[slunkatron]

I totally get where D is coming from.  It seems like Buckethead has less patience now for really perfecting some of these releases.  It reminds me of how I used to feel when I was in college and had to write a paper.  I would pound out something decent in the B to B+ range and then just lose all interest in it.  I could probably work on it to get it into the A range but I just didn\'t care to.  I couldn\'t force myself to go back and read it again and perfect it.  I feel like Buckethead has these great ideas, pounds them out, and then doesn\'t have any desire to take the time and effort to really clean them up and perfect them.  In some ways I am ok with it because he would probably not be putting out nearly as much or as varied stuff if he perfected everything, but on the other hand I feel like we are never going to get another Inbred Mountain if he doesn\'t take the time and care to perfect what he is releasing.  Anyway, that said I liked a lot of Spinal Clock but it will not be an album I listen to all the time.  It is more an album I will need to be in the right mood to put on.

[ella_mental]

I\'ve shared my thoughts before, but as far as Spinal Clock goes I would have liked to hear Whale On This focus on 1 or maybe 2 musical themes and not as many as it does.  For me it stops being a song and is just a collection of various thoughts on one track.  It feels scattered and incomplete.  It could probably be at least 4 finished songs if Bucket would have taken a little more time to feel them out.  That\'s what I think anyway.  And Gelatin Nerve is one of the worst songs I\'ve ever heard.  Secret or no secret, it sucks.  I find it painful to listen to, maybe that\'s the secret.

I can deal with the rest of the album but those two things are hurdles to my listening enjoyment.  I\'d rather hear a polished off track 2 and a deleted track 6 and I think the album would play better...  But that\'s just me.

[Whale_On_This]

I feel ripped off.   *EDIT (perhaps thats the wrong phrase to use, I fully expected the cd to be similar to what it is, i heard the samples.. etc. )

I know I\'m going to get a lot of flack over this but I\'m not going to hold back.

After being a long time and very huge fan, I feel like the effort has gotten less and less. This is by far my least favorite release. I love the fact that its limited and personalized, but from a musical standpoint I\'m extremely disappointed. I wasn\'t so psyched about ISOT, but there are some amazing pieces there.. to me Spinal Clock has one good track on it, possibly some of the others will grow on me, but I don\'t think there will really be many more options to grow on me.

The disappointment stems from this being the final cd that broke my support. After several, what I would say, less worked CD\'s and several disappointments.. I still had hope, but this was the end of it.

I describe this more recent sound as what I create when its late at night and I\'m in that certain mindset, and I\'ve got my headphones on and my mind is entrapped and fascinated with all the noises I can make on my guitar, Zoning out on the reverb and delays made by my processor.. its fun, but I don\'t really want an album of it.  I\'ve read some peoples reviews that say its very "experimental"... I don\'t agree with that at all, it sounds like me screwing around late at night.

When comparing his massive catalog, the earlier stuff was polished, layered, and took time to create and had a sound that was atmospheric but you could tell that he finished the album and went back and crafted it again and again until it was perfect. When I hear the more recent releases, i hear less and less layered tracks, and what seems to me to be less time constructing compositions, less of a strive for perfection in some ways. Just compare anything off Giant robot, or Colma to any of the three or four recent releases.

I did like the recent mellow releases, and was quite excited during my first few listens....but they unfortunately do not stand the test of time for me. I like them when I hear them, but I\'m never itching to hear them. They are single layer guitar tracks or two sometimes, but lack the dimensions of earlier releases.

I\'m sure some will just say i\'m closed minded but I assure you I am an adventuresome listener, I enjoy DCK, I enjoy some dissonant and strange music and would say I am open minded. But even when comparing the DCK cds to Spinal clock... it doesn\'t even come close.

Obviously Bh was pleased with this release, and I feel bad sort of letting it rip... but as was said in other threads, we don\'t all have to like it, and we all have opinions.

I just miss the days of being truly amazed at the depth, dimensions, tone, phrasing, and craziness of the old style buckethead. As I started off saying... I\'m a long time fan, but for me to have the vast majority of his albums and love every one, and finally to be a bit disappointed with spinal clock... thats one hell of an achievement!!

I respect your opinion bot. Even if I don\'t share it.  

[eggman90]

Thanks D for a well written and thought out post. I couldn\'t agree more. Hard to figure out what B\'s thinking in the last couple of years. I had on Shadows Between The Sky as I drove around yesterday, played it twice to make sure I wasn\'t missing anything since I bought it, but only Sled Ride stands out. On Best Regards, there are some songs where it sounds like the clock is ticking to kill time or take up recording space-very long pauses between notes, lots of improvisation. That set could have been whittled down to one maybe two discs. If there are two more volumes coming out with this trio, LE or not, I\'ll have to wait for the reviews prior to buying, since even the LE factor alone would not be enough to spend hard earned bucks on. Spinal Clock sounds like just B noodling on his own. The banjo factor is interesting. Nice wrapper and autograph, but that\'s about it.

I\'m not hoping that he returns to the style or production of any past album. We all know he\'s an extremely intelligent person, just hard to figure out what\'s going on.

[Wizard_beard]

I didn\'t like the cd overall(a couple cool ideas) but the fact it has a drawing and autograph make it totally worth it imo. I agree that his last few efforts have lacked quality and i dont really understand why. If it\'s money he needs he has a to be smart enough to know that by putting out  these recycled ideas over and over, eventually people will be like "I\'m keeping my $20" or "I could make these cds! I play guitar and have always looked up to Buckethead and always will, but man give me another Albino Slug asap!

If its the lack of money while he heals .. how about transcribing a autographed homemade Tab book with like 3 songs per book?
I\'d buy them all!  

[In Search Of The]

It\'s just a bit of fun. It\'s a different direction for him for sure, we\'ve not heard much in the banjo department. This is just a toy, a little game, I\'m sure Buckethead had a lot of fun making it, you can tell that at certain points he just loses his mind and starts plucking away, just noodling. We knew what we were getting from previews I suppose, and I\'m not complaining. I don\'t feel short changed. I own a piece of his discography and his name is on it, that\'s enough for me. I know he\'ll return with something with the same impact as Albino Slug and such, we\'ve just got to let him rest up.

Something else occurred to me. Buckethead is used to being up and about, constantly touring and writing, yes? So imagine how mentally crippling this must be for him, stuck in a chair or bed and being in such pain. I don\'t know the extent of his injury but I can\'t imagine it would be pleasant for someone who\'s used to being so active. This is a difficult listen and you can hear the frustration behind it sometimes.

[TheNose]

Maybe he\'s a little burnt out or something? Since Colma, his sheer musical output has been pretty much superhuman.  It has to be exhausting to practice, create and record, tour, and find time to take care of himself and hang out with his family and friends.  

I don\'t know--even Pink Floyd had their Ummagumma album.  Maybe he just has to get something out of his system before he comes back to his usual fare.

[bornalive]

Hi everybody,
Phew, time flies, it seems I\'m now an old bucketbot too.

First, I\'m very happy to read those varied words from you all. I read every single message on this board for almost ten years now, but rarely post myself.

Living in France, I always receive my tdrs orders after the first reviews. It\'s been a few years that I\'ve been a bit tired of the systematic "love this album - it\'s one of the best Buckethead release" comments. I was happy to read all the support that Buckethead was receiving, but I would say it was sometimes blinded by love.

After all the very polished Monti/Bucket albums, I was happy when ISOT went out, even if I didn\'t like every single track. I was considering Buckethead an experimental artist, so there is a need to try new things. And this is how I also take Best Regards and Spinal Clock, even if I also agree with every comment. These recordings are things we did not have yet, so we\'re lucky to have them released, it shows that Buckethead still wants to try new things.

I don\'t think the LE\'s are just easy things to release. I think it\'s still easier to continue the Monti/Bucket catalog, it seems to sell well, the polished records are very much enjoyed by the majority, and it doesn\'t seem to take so much time to build them (according to the fact that we can get several per year). On the opposite, even if Spinal Clock has been recorded in less than 50 minutes one night, its release is difficult because it\'s obvious that there might be "complaints".
Buckethead must have known that it wouldn\'t please everyone of us, but he apparently wanted to share this moment of banjo playing with us. We were not in his room when he played that, but we can still listen to it. How lucky are we ?

About Best Regards, I\'m also happy to own this, as a document on how a completely free improvisation can evolve between those three musicians. There are several jams that begin like just funny sounds by the three, progressively becoming a great musical experience. It\'s my own interpretation, but it shows that even when the feeling is not there at first, they work hard to build something and get a nice result even with a difficult start. I might be wrong, maybe the band is very proud of every note there...

When I discovered Buckethead, I was extremely pleased by the varied kind of releases. I enjoy the Monti/Bucket productions very much, but I\'m very happy that Buckethead is not doing only them.

[In Search Of The]

After all the very polished Monti/Bucket albums, I was happy when ISOT went out, even if I didn\'t like every single track. I was considering Buckethead an experimental artist, so there is a need to try new things. And this is how I also take Best Regards and Spinal Clock, even if I also agree with every comment. These recordings are things we did not have yet, so we\'re lucky to have them released, it shows that Buckethead still wants to try new things.

I don\'t think the LE\'s are just easy things to release. I think it\'s still easier to continue the Monti/Bucket catalog, it seems to sell well, the polished records are very much enjoyed by the majority, and it doesn\'t seem to take so much time to build them (according to the fact that we can get several per year). On the opposite, even if Spinal Clock has been recorded in less than 50 minutes one night, its release is difficult because it\'s obvious that there might be "complaints".
Buckethead must have known that it wouldn\'t please everyone of us, but he apparently wanted to share this moment of banjo playing with us. We were not in his room when he played that, but we can still listen to it. How lucky are we?

This summed it up for me, well said that man.

[FishingBall]

I\'m a New Bucketbot almost an year.
I can understand all off you it isn\'t that great.
I expected more from it,
I hope He will release a very cool album something like Pepper\'s ghost....

Waiting...............................

[Phydeaux_3]

To my mind, it\'s another "bleepy-bloopy" album (Skeleton Dance being an exceptionally nice one!) which don\'t rate high in my book. I have recently "stolen" all of the unreleased and untitled songs from uToob vids and THAT is the album that I am waiting for. That vid from PetesBloodyHand has an amazing song that I would LOVE to hear laid down proper. Also, the one from bunghole30 is pretty nice too. It\'s nearly unfathomable to me that B can keep so much amazing music all up inside one head. So I\'m holding out for the next "proper" Buckethead album. You know it\'s gotta be coming, soon hopefully.

That said, I don\'t demand or expect anything from the man. He\'s always been a true original, marching to the beat of his own (or maybe Brain\'s) drum, no reason for that to start changing now. It\'s up to me to be a little bit more selective in my purchase choices is all.

smooches,
 » Phy³

[Whale_On_This]

To my mind, it\'s another "bleepy-bloopy" album (Skeleton Dance being an exceptionally nice one!) which don\'t rate high in my book. I have recently "stolen" all of the unreleased and untitled songs from uToob vids and THAT is the album that I am waiting for. That vid from PetesBloodyHand has an amazing song that I would LOVE to hear laid down proper. Also, the one from bunghole30 is pretty nice too. It\'s nearly unfathomable to me that B can keep so much amazing music all up inside one head. So I\'m holding out for the next "proper" Buckethead album. You know it\'s gotta be coming, soon hopefully.

That said, I don\'t demand or expect anything from the man. He\'s always been a true original, marching to the beat of his own (or maybe Brain\'s) drum, no reason for that to start changing now. It\'s up to me to be a little bit more selective in my purchase choices is all.

smooches,
» Phy³

I can\'t fathom that Bucket may be thinking of NOT releasing these songs.
But that too is a possibility.

[JIP]

Skeleton Dance and Whale on This stand out for me...

it\'s a banjo album..one instrument...i didn\'t expect anything else but i\'m happy that Bucket tried this one out too...

peace