@FeralCats: I've been meaning to comment on this more fully for some time and have finally got around to it. These comments aren't comprehensive and I could probably explain myself a lot better with more effort.
FeralCats wrote:
Obviously, I'm talking politically and sociologically ...
There are many things said by FZ that I don't agree with, but his basic stance on the corruption of the US establishment and erosion of democracy were sound. Neoliberalism has been continuously dragging the clock backwards throughout the western world since at least the sixties. It's become much worse since he passed on and so a lot of his commentary still applies - even more so.
FeralCats wrote:
But, for a long time, even critics who claimed to be sympathetic to FZ would talk about how Civilization Phaze III was "obviously dated" etc because of it's synth sounds ...
Vintage synths have become a premium in recent years - many people are paying serious money to get a hold of them. Anyway - it's about a lot more than synth sounds. FZ wasn't just using stuff out of the box, he used samples of a wide variety of sound sources. Do critics consider Varèse's Poème Électronique dated? How many of the usual instruments that people play these days were invented less than a hundred years ago? Datedness is a tricky concept to navigate and in the end, I guess it's in the ear of the beholder.
FeralCats wrote:
... imo it sounds more relevant than ever to the work of folk like FlyLo ("You're Dead!") and Western art composers (like Heiner Goebbels, and younger folk) who are more openly indebted to FZ.
Indeed. Caveat: I was already familiar with some Heiner Goebbels but I had to check out FlyLo's "You're Dead!" on YouTube.
FeralCats wrote:
Just wondering, since it seems like in the first decade this beautiful thing existed everyone was already willing to consign it to the grave---do you listen to it often? When you do does it strike you as a relic of it's time, or as relevant?
It's definitely not a relic. Maybe I shouldn't have used the word boring referring to the last two tracks, that seems unnecessarily harsh in retrospect. I haven't given up on them and still listen to them every now and then. I can't see myself as ever finding any of this album dated.
And, while I'm at it, I like Dance Me This just as much.