Imagine: Lennon or APC?

Chevelle7982 · Post by **Chevelle7982** » Friday Oct 15, 2004

Has anyone heard "Imagine" A Perfect Circle style? Absolutely amazing. I love what Maynard is doing with this band. I am waiting patiently for election day so I can run out and buy their new album. However, many debates have been taking place, mostly noteably, on 105.7 "the X" on an issue of disrespect. I howver, feel as though Lennon is an artists that should always be remembered for greatness and in my opinion there is no better way to honor someone than to do a rendition of a song than with the passion that APC used with masterpiece. I just wanted to get all of your feedback on the issue.

red · Post by **red** » Friday Oct 15, 2004

If someone were to re-do one of my songs with their own style and emotion I would consider it a HUGE compliment!!! I couldn't think of a better way to pay a compliment to another musician

stonekrow · Post by **stonekrow** » Friday Oct 15, 2004

No disrespect Chevelle and I apologize if this comes off rudely but Id rather dip my balls in a vat of fire ants than to EVER have to sit through that APC rendition of Imagine ever again. I actually called the "X" the first time I heard it and asked kindly to NEVER, EVER, play it again. I guess it doesn't help that I can't stomach Maynard either. I loved the original and the key it was played it, it brought so much feeling to the song the way John Lennon meant it to be, not a dreery lamenting bellyache for Maynard to show off just how shallow he is by being above doing the song the way it wan intended. Other than that it's ok...lol

GUITARII · Post by **GUITARII** » Friday Oct 15, 2004

Whoah..... a discussion on music?

I'm not sure it will work on a forum geared around politics but what the hell.... why not?

APC.... cool band--- bringing back some of those cool dark harmonies of AIC.... I think they're good! But I have to agree with StoneKrow on this one. Some songs are better left alone or done to the composers original intent for the feel of the tune.

While I'm a big advocate of leaving music to your own interpretation or giving it your own feel (contradicting myself), I do think that some songs, when filled with such emotion (as imagine), are better off the way they are. Honor it by trying to do Lennon justice but don't make it a dark and seedy tune... ya know?

Maybe APC truly tried to show Lennon and the song their appreciation for the feel or tone of it, I don't know, maybe they are trying to make a political statement, don't know that either but I felt ticked off about the way they did it the first time I heard it...

I don't know that I see these guys as making a political statement as much as most do but maybe I'm just listening to the music and not reading into the songs. If I start thinking too much about them supporting Kerry I may not want to listen anymore...

As a group... the writing they do is pretty cool. You can listen to most of the tunes off of 13th step and think about most of your own life...(I guess for me it was really the time around my 1st marriage

) listen to some tunes off of mer de noms, like "Thinking of You" and all you can think is "What the Fuck is that?".... and then it turns into a cool hook that grabs you... it's pretty nuts. I haven't had the opportunity to listen to much off of eMOTIVe yet but I think they got a lot of balls covering the tunes they have on it.... Keep it ROCKIN' APC!

There's my $.02

stonekrow · Post by **stonekrow** » Friday Oct 15, 2004

Well said GuitarII, I agree totally with a lot of what you said.........all except for the Kerry part

My apologies for being so crude on my earlier post Chevelle, I should have gave more insight on my opinion rather than being so negative, here goes. I have the first APC album, I cant remember a lot of the song names but I really enjoyed "Judith" even though it totally goes against my religious beliefs but I took it for what it was and really like the music that accompanies it. I also like tracks number 5 and 6, very cool songs to kick back to. I will buy the new one just to see if anything such as the previous mentioned songs are on it.

The Face in the Face · Post by **The Face in the Face** » Saturday Oct 16, 2004

i haven't heard it, but my buddies tell me it is a biiiiiig no no. Maynard turned Imagine into something it isn't. sad.

oh well, where can i hear this over the internet?

GUITARII · Post by **GUITARII** » Sunday Oct 17, 2004

The Face in the Face wrote:i haven't heard it, but my buddies tell me it is a biiiiiig no no. Maynard turned Imagine into something it isn't. sad.

oh well, where can i hear this over the internet?

BIG NO!!

You can probably download it.......

daveb · Post by **daveb** » Sunday Oct 17, 2004

I'm going with APC on this. I really like the dirge. I think it reflects the jaded negativity of present thinking the same way the original version reflected Lennon's hippy optimism. A Perfect Circle is a wildly original band in a time of cookie cutter, mass production music. Maynard is a egomaniac of the first order, that is for sure. Name a front man who isn't. But, I don't see how Maynard is "showing off" in this version of Imagine as was earlier posted. He is the lead singer isn't he. Where else would you like the lead vocal track? I think the song is mixed pretty true to the original if you listen to them side by side. Sure, the instruments are different, but the mix is pretty much dead on. The problem, as I see it, is that A Perfect Circle has taken on a song that was thought to be untouchable. That is not to say that they are disrespecting the song or trying to minimize its importance to the generations of people that love Imagine. They are just covering a song from an album of songs they are releasing that are political in nature. The new CD, eMOTIVE, comes out Nov. 2, by the way. Would anyone give a damn if they covered the John Lennon song Whatever Gets You Through the Night. Most likely not. So, maybe they did go after a sacred cow. No blood. No foul. Coming soon, Green Day does Free Bird

GUITARII · Post by **GUITARII** » Tuesday Oct 19, 2004

daveb wrote: Coming soon, Green Day does Free Bird

That would be cool!!!

oobie · Post by **oobie** » Wednesday Oct 20, 2004

green day already did free bird and sweet home alabama and if i get some time i'll dig the mp3s up and post them for ya it is rather funny.

songsmith · Post by **songsmith** » Wednesday Oct 20, 2004

I'm gonna get drawn and quartered for this, but I disliked "Imagine" from the day it dropped. Sure, there's no denying it touched a lot of people... just not me. I was maybe 18 when it came out, hardly old enough to look at anything from a mature point of view, but it simply struck me as self-indulgent Utopian pap. There's very little solo Lennon stuff i can hack for even 1/2 a song... not after he was part of the most successful songwriting team in history. There's a good reason people refer to any overly influential band-girlfriend as "Yoko." Hell, ya, I'm still bitter! I hold a grudge... I still haven't forgiven Kiss for "Music from the Elder!"

---->JMS

Matt_22 · Post by **Matt_22** » Wednesday Oct 20, 2004

I'm onboard with songsmith, just glad that he broke the ice, but.....
I got your back on this one strummer.

bassist_25 · Post by **bassist_25** » Wednesday Oct 20, 2004

I finally heard this yeseterday, and I very much disliked it. Don't get me wrong - I'm a huge Tool and APC fan, but I just couldn't dig on all of the dissonance. I'm not going to walk around all indignant about the tune, but give me John's version any day of the week.

GUITARII · Post by **GUITARII** » Wednesday Oct 20, 2004

oobie wrote:green day already did free bird and sweet home alabama and if i get some time i'll dig the mp3s up and post them for ya it is rather funny.

Really?! That's cool.... time to fire up the downloader!

GUITARII · Post by **GUITARII** » Wednesday Oct 20, 2004

bassist_25 wrote:I finally heard this yeseterday, and I very much disliked it. Don't get me wrong - I'm a huge Tool and APC fan, but I just couldn't dig on all of the dissonance. I'm not going to walk around all indignant about the tune, but give me John's version any day of the week.

Never thought I'd say this..... Well said brutha!