SAW [Week 64 - "Home of the Strange"]

Take a walk in Tin Pan Alley, the area's most famous music district.

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Re: SAW [Week 15 - "All Hail West Texas"]

#901

Post by G-Man »

My first impression of The Mountain Goats is that it sounds like an acoustic demo tape by the band Cake before they added the trumpet and more snark and sarcasm to their lyrics. It's not bad but it started sounding samey. We'll see if that persists.
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Re: SAW [Week 15 - "All Hail West Texas"]

#902

Post by sprityo »

I would like to submit this album for the next SAW poll :p this will be my first time doing so and I'll need to go ahead and listen to this current album up right now. This album is available on bandcamp for those interested
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Re: SAW [Week 15 - "All Hail West Texas"]

#903

Post by JaggedJimmyJay »

Glad to have you aboard sprityo!
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Re: SAW [Week 15 - "All Hail West Texas"]

#904

Post by JaggedJimmyJay »

Submissions:

nutella - Bobby McFerrin - Circlesongs / 1997 / Vocal Jazz / 8 tracks / 42:42 / YouTube (nutella please verify) and Spotify

MovingPictures07 - Dead Can Dance - Within the Realm of a Dying Sun / 1987 / Neoclassical darkwave / 8 tracks / 38:43 / YouTube and Spotify

Golden - Corinne Bailey Rae - The Heart Speaks in Whispers (Deluxe) / 2016 / Neo-soul / 16 tracks / 75:32 / YouTube and Spotify

speedchuck - Toehider - What Kind of Creature Am I? / 2014 / Progressive rock/metal / 10 tracks / 51:45 / YouTube, Bandcamp, and Spotify

JaggedJimmyJay - CunninLynguists - A Piece of Strange / 2005 / Southern hip hop / 16 tracks / 54:19 / YouTube, Bandcamp, and Spotify

triceratopzeuhl - Townes Van Zandt - Townes Van Zandt / 1969 / Country/folk / 10 tracks / 34:33 / YouTube and Spotify

G-Man - The Stooges - Fun House / 1970 / Proto-punk / 7 tracks / 36:35 / YouTube and Spotify

sprityo - Michael Guy Bowman - Mobius Trip and Hadron Kaleido / 2011 / Synthpop / 9 tracks / 39:21 / YouTube and Bandcamp
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Re: SAWS [Week 15 - "All Hail West Texas"]

#905

Post by sprityo »

I suppose I should include the album cover and release year
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Möbius Trip and Hadron Kaleido - 2011- by Michael Guy Bowman

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Re: SAW [Week 15 - "All Hail West Texas"]

#906

Post by sprityo »

So right off the bat, the first song on the playlist. I've already got a personal reference, (Denton is were I live, in Texas. It's a nice town full of history and plenty of bands starting out, with venues and college students galore) the story the song conveys is great and really conveys the story of two friends living their dreams, even if albeit they're a bit different than most.

The second song, a dose of reality for a fallen football star turned drug dealer. The tone of the song lightens it up to a more whimsical tone however especially with the insertion of the person in questions name and for whatever reason his family history.

Third song, from what I can tell without the lyrics, is there's a place offering drinks that have the ability to perk someone up, or as the song says "put color in your cheeks". It's obvious by now that the songs so far haven't had a focus on rhyme as much as telling a story, and I'm fairly enjoying it so far. I mean the album cover does in fact tell you about what's to be expected.

-----------
Stopping here for now, will continue at a later time.
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Re: SAW [Week 15 - "All Hail West Texas"]

#907

Post by G-Man »

Sure, Jimmy, just ignore my submission for the approval of the Midnight Society. I see how it is. :pout:
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Re: SAW [Week 15 - "All Hail West Texas"]

#908

Post by JaggedJimmyJay »

Whoops, my bad. I have shimmied you in there. :nicenod:
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Re: SAW [Week 15 - "All Hail West Texas"]

#909

Post by G-Man »

JaggedJimmyJay wrote: Tue Jun 27, 2017 8:46 pm Whoops, my bad. I have shimmied you in there. :nicenod:
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Re: SAW [Week 15 - "All Hail West Texas"]

#910

Post by thellama73 »

If it's not too late for submissions, I'd like to submit the 1970 acid folk masterpiece First Utterance by Comus, because every time I listen to it I literally cannot believe how good it is.
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Re: SAW [Week 15 - "All Hail West Texas"]

#911

Post by Ricochet »

thellama73 wrote: Wed Jun 28, 2017 1:49 pm If it's not too late for submissions, I'd like to submit the 1970 acid folk masterpiece First Utterance by Comus, because every time I listen to it I literally cannot believe how good it is.
Full album on youtube:
There's this protocol called "sitting out after submitting something". :mafia:
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Re: SAW [Week 15 - "All Hail West Texas"]

#912

Post by thellama73 »

Ricochet wrote: Wed Jun 28, 2017 2:41 pm
thellama73 wrote: Wed Jun 28, 2017 1:49 pm If it's not too late for submissions, I'd like to submit the 1970 acid folk masterpiece First Utterance by Comus, because every time I listen to it I literally cannot believe how good it is.
Full album on youtube:
There's this protocol called "sitting out after submitting something". :mafia:
It's called "my work keeps unexpectedly sending me on trips that make it hard for me to post a lot."
Epignosis wrote:If llama is good, it means we exist in a universe in which multitasking llama can call out the first of two mafia while simultaneously calling out two civilians.

I don't want to live in that universe.
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Re: SAW [Week 15 - "All Hail West Texas"]

#913

Post by Ricochet »

thellama73 wrote: Wed Jun 28, 2017 2:50 pm
Ricochet wrote: Wed Jun 28, 2017 2:41 pm
thellama73 wrote: Wed Jun 28, 2017 1:49 pm If it's not too late for submissions, I'd like to submit the 1970 acid folk masterpiece First Utterance by Comus, because every time I listen to it I literally cannot believe how good it is.
Full album on youtube:
There's this protocol called "sitting out after submitting something". :mafia:
It's called "my work keeps unexpectedly sending me on trips that make it hard for me to post a lot."
It's called "tough bananas".
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Re: SAW [Week 15 - "All Hail West Texas"]

#914

Post by G-Man »

Pretty close to my final thoughts on the Mountain Goats already. I still pick up that Cake demo vibe and perhaps a twinge of hipster. Mixed results but nothing that I'm indifferent or worse to. I like his sillier songs better than the more straight-laced ones.
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Re: SAW [Week 15 - "All Hail West Texas"]

#915

Post by Tangrowth »

G-Man wrote: Tue Jun 27, 2017 12:22 am For the next poll, I am nominating this gem:

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Album: Fun House
Artist: The Stooges
Released: July 7, 1970
Genre: Proto-Punk/Hard Rock
7 Tracks, 36:35
Available on Spotify and YouTube
A classic indeed. Looking forward to revisiting this, I haven't heard it in ages!
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Re: SAW [Week 15 - "All Hail West Texas"]

#916

Post by G-Man »

When's the new poll going up?
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Re: SAW [Week 15 - "All Hail West Texas"]

#917

Post by Ricochet »

Uh poll?
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Re: SAW [Week 15 - "All Hail West Texas"]

#918

Post by JaggedJimmyJay »

Sorry y'all, I forgot about the poll. I've been prepping for/at a conference. I can't do it now either, so it might have to be pushed back a day or two.
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Re: SAW [Week 15 - "All Hail West Texas"]

#919

Post by Ricochet »

Poll is up. Vote nao!
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Re: SAW [Week 15 - "All Hail West Texas"]

#920

Post by G-Man »

I'll have to work up my review for The Mountain Goats tomorrow. In the meantime, I am voting for Golden the Coward's ;) pick and the other four that are that the shortest (excluding mine). I'm not familiar with most of the choices this time around, so I figure the shorter the better.
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Re: SAW [Week 15 - "All Hail West Texas"]

#921

Post by Ricochet »

Last vid went down to just 5 views lol.

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Re: SAW [Week 15 - "All Hail West Texas"]

#922

Post by Tangrowth »

Evening, folks!

I gave All Hail West Texas another listen and unfortunately my opinion hasn't really changed much. Though I will say the opener was my favorite song and a bit memorable second time around. I tried Tallahassee as well due to nutella's suggestion and I can see the appeal a bit more with that one, but I still had the same problem with the music just failing to move me in any way whatsoever nearly the entire time. I would give them both a 2.5. I guess these albums just probably aren't for me. I really appreciate checking them out though as well as the suggestion for a different album.

I also went ahead and cast my votes. Tough call!
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Re: SAW [Week 15 - "All Hail West Texas"]

#923

Post by Tangrowth »

Also, I just wanted to say that I appreciate reading everyone's thoughts on these albums, but I definitely want to give a shout-out to Rico for his video reviews. Despite being really busy I always make time for and looking forward to them because I find them really informative and interesting. Keep up the awesome reviews, Rico!
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Re: SAW [Week 15 - "All Hail West Texas"]

#924

Post by nutella »

I think a lot of appreciation for the Mountain Goats is dependent on context and personal relation to the lyrics as well as knowledge of John Darnielle as a person (he's a really cool guy btw and has a fun sense of humor and some online presence I think, overall a really interesting personality). His lyrics are incredibly poetic and deal with a lot of his own personal experiences including abusive situations, depression, etc and I think they're very evocative in a lot of ways. For context, a lot of my friends from college are really into his music and many of them personally relate to the lyrics and also just have some group associations with many tMG songs -- specifically, I was first introduced to them my freshman year through a friend from my dorm who hosted "singalongs" playing the ukulele and singing various folk songs, sea shanties etc but also a ton of Mountain Goats songs and I learned a lot of them through that context.

So for me, there's a bunch of Mountain Goats songs pulled from various albums that I know through that context and have attached some personal/friend-group meaning to. A couple of them are from AHWT, but most of the ones that are important to me are from those other four albums I mentioned, maybe a couple others. Certainly their most well-known song is "This Year" which is pretty powerful; a few of my personal favorites are "Up the Wolves," "Sax Rohmer #1," "No Children," "Oceanographer's Choice," and "Cry for Judas," just to name a few because I am really rambling here lol. I do recommend checking some of these out if you guys are interested, but yeah in the end I think a lot of it comes down to how you're exposed to them and what you associate the lyrics with. I can understand not being thrilled about the music itself, most of it is not very complex and the emotion lies in the delivery and poetry of the lyrics.

Sorry if I'm being annoying, it wasn't even my submission lol so you don't have to listen to me but I'm just gonna put this one here because I think it's a one of their best (I believe it's about confronting an abusive childhood and the delivery of the chorus/last verse is really powerful)


Also for a laugh check out this goofy song John Darnielle wrote earlier this year based on his young son's interpretation of the upcoming Star Wars title "The Last Jedi." It's about eating bones.
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Re: SAW [Week 15 - "All Hail West Texas"]

#925

Post by Golden »

Ricochet wrote: Sat Jul 01, 2017 4:14 pm Last vid went down to just 5 views lol.
You don't have mine yet but I'll be acatching up.

Should I go front to back or back to front? I think I might start with one tonight.
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Re: SAW [Week 15 - "All Hail West Texas"]

#926

Post by Ricochet »

Start with Vanessa Rossetto and then hate me forever for the advice.
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Re: SAW [Week 15 - "All Hail West Texas"]

#927

Post by JaggedJimmyJay »

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It's a tie. The new queue:

~ Golden - Corinne Bailey Rae - The Heart Speaks in Whispers (Deluxe) / 2016 / Neo-soul / 16 tracks / 75:32 / YouTube and Spotify
~ MovingPictures07 - Dead Can Dance - Within the Realm of a Dying Sun / 1987 / Neoclassical darkwave / 8 tracks / 38:43 / YouTube and Spotify
~ nutella - Bobby McFerrin - Circlesongs / 1997 / Vocal Jazz / 8 tracks / 42:42 / YouTube (nutella please verify) and Spotify
~ speedchuck - Toehider - What Kind of Creature Am I? / 2014 / Progressive rock/metal / 10 tracks / 51:45 / YouTube, Bandcamp, and Spotify
~ G-Man - The Stooges - Fun House / 1970 / Proto-punk / 7 tracks / 36:35 / YouTube and Spotify
~ sprityo - Michael Guy Bowman - Mobius Trip and Hadron Kaleido / 2011 / Synthpop / 9 tracks / 39:21 / YouTube and Bandcamp
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The Syndicate: Town 23-26; Mafia 10-5; Indy 5-1 | RateYourMusic: Town 14-13; Mafia 5-4; Indy 0-3 | Mafia Universe: Town 6-0; Mafia 1-0 | Student Doctor Network: Town 2-1; Mafia 1-0 | HeroClixRealms: Town 1-0; Mafia 0-1 | Bulbagarden: Mafia 0-1; Indy 1-0 | 2+2 POG: Town 1-0 | Naruto Forums: Town 0-1 | Personality Café: Town 1-0 | Vendetta Strada: Town 0-1 | Mafia451: Town 1-0 | Wintreath: Mafia 1-0

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Re: SAW [Week 16 - "The Heart Speaks in Whispers" (Deluxe Edition)]

#928

Post by JaggedJimmyJay »

Week 16: Corinne Bailey Rae - The Heart Speaks in Whispers (Deluxe Edition)
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Re: SAW [Week 16 - "The Heart Speaks in Whispers" (Deluxe Edition)]

#929

Post by Golden »

Some quick background to this album.

Corinne Bailey Rae has released three studio albums. The first (self-titled), you're probably familiar with a couple of the tracks - it''s a breezy, summery album that fits a pop mold, albeit with a gorgeous vocalist and some very beautiful harmonic twists. But, it's relatively straightforward. Then her husband died of an overdose. Her second album, The Sea, was a melancholy memoir of her lost love, for me an album that truly works as a whole album, as you feel the throughline. It's a beautiful thing to put on whenever I'm feeling a little nostalgic for things I can't get back.

This is her third album, and it took a long time to write. The result is an album full of hope and new love, of empowerment (there's a lot of space imagery going on as well), and ultimately it's a fairly lush experience. I don't think it's as good as The Sea (primarily because it doesn't feel as much like a complete album - I defy you to be able to tell where the bonus tracks begin in the deluxe version), but I think it's a better entry point.

I'll come back and talk about my favourite tracks later.
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Re: SAW [Week 16 - "The Heart Speaks in Whispers" (Deluxe Edition)]

#930

Post by JaggedJimmyJay »

I just finished a listen. I think you did the right thing when you expanded your original submission to include the bonus tracks, because "High" is the biggest immediate standout for me. The whole thing is very good though; Corinne Bailey Rae has always been easy for me to appreciate. Her voice isn't going to explode out of anyone's speakers and change their lives, and frankly I think that gives her more soulful power -- its her capacity for emotive delivery which makes it work, not her range or some other irrelevant technical thing.

I'm glad we finally managed to get this album into the thread. It was long overdue, and your patience is appreciated Golden. It was worth the wait.

I'll start it at 3.5 stars, but it could push for 4 with another spin. I might still prefer her debut, but it's close.
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Re: SAW [Week 16 - "The Heart Speaks in Whispers" (Deluxe Edition)]

#931

Post by G-Man »

Feel free to drop The Stooges until the next poll if that will help keep us at more than five submissions next time around. I listen to it every other day, so it's not something I'm dying to cover.
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Re: SAW [Week 16 - "The Heart Speaks in Whispers" (Deluxe Edition)]

#932

Post by Golden »

"High" is also probably my favourite track.
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Re: SAW [Week 16 - "The Heart Speaks in Whispers" (Deluxe Edition)]

#933

Post by Golden »

Because I love this album (and CBR generally) so much, I can easily talk about each track. So here are my thoughts.

1) The Skies Will Break - I really like the simple 4-bar piano riff that sits underneath much of this song. It sets the tone and story of the album - she is moving on from the loss of her husband, this is about the new stage of her life, the sun shines through and finally she can focus on other things than violence. It also mentions the word 'golden' a couple of times (and that's probably also the best part of the song - right at the end, as the sun breaks in). It's not the best song on the album melodically, but it is the perfect album opener if you are to regard her discography as a whole - it moves her story on from "The Sea" perfectly. 3.5/5

2) Hey, I Won't Break Your Heart - I've never quite understood the start of this song - why the funny cutting in and out? But it holds a lot of CBR's most soulful mood, which is one of my favourite moods of her vocals. I love the way the song builds up in a crescendo, towards the 3 minute make, and it feels like a release of tension the song has built. I don't know what the intent of the lyrics are, but it has always felt like transference to me - like 'the man in her life' is a single entity, that broke her heart by dying once before, and it's about the difficulty in trusting, but also an understanding of what it is to give trust. It took me a few listens to fall in love with this song, but now I love it. 4/5

3) Been to the Moon - the album's single. On my first listen, it was weird. Then it became addictive. CBR's voice it at its very best when it just melts, and on this song it's melting all over the place. I thoroughly love the bass line. The minute of brass at the end is something I never get sick of. It has a certain imperfection to it, which I think is something CBR goes for generally anyway. I'm not sure what her history is with her new husband, but this song either speaks again of transference, or it speaks of a previous near miss - something I identify with a lot as I feel I've had my own share of 'could have beens' - roads that I didn't take but that I easily could have. There's still the undertone of not wanting to be hurt again. But it really comes out in a joyous and playful way. It's lyrically on point too - the first two verses use words almost as well as Paul Simon to tell a story while hitting rhythmic beats. I love this track, it doesn't go where I expect it to. 5/5

4) Tell Me - catchy, but not my favourite gear for CBR. It's almost a protest song, she's starting a movement, but I don't know what it's a movement for. She gets a little beauty in on the verses, and there's still some lush orchestration in places, but if I'm skipping through the highlights, this is the first one I skip. 2.5/5

5) Stop Where You Are - this song veers a little too much into mainstream pop for my liking. It's actually a little Norah Jones-esque. I like Norah Jones in its place, so that isn't exactly a criticism, but it's not what I'm coming to this album for (and it's a poor facsimile). The Guardian wrote that it was looking for a Coldplay album (which may well be true, but I don't know them well enough). Like "Hey, I Won't Break Your Heart", it feels like the whole song builds toward a climax at around 3 minutes, but this time it doesn't pack the emotional punch that I feel with the other song (although my favourite bit of the song is definitely the evocative lyricism leading up to that climax). 1.5/5

6) Green Aphrodisiac - the album snaps back on track a bit here, as CBR once again melts all over a song. Where the last two songs didn't connect individually, they are collectively about re-empowerment and coming working out of the conflict she has in looking back at her pain. Here CBR hits her own personal spring, a metaphor for her own new growth. "Green Aphrodisiac" seems to me like the full-blown release of the past and embracing of a new phase of life. The metaphor hits for me but the lyrics aren't as great as some of her others, so the song feels like it could be a home run but doesn't quite make it for me. 4/5

7) Horse Print Dress - There's Motown hints throughout the album, even before this point, but they are in full force here. I can't help but feel like I'm listening to a modern take on Diana Ross and the Supremes on this track. It's also another one where I feel like CBR is at her lyrical best. She'll sing the number of syllables that she wants to, and whether it's fewer or more than you expect, she makes it work perfectly. The song is a step on from spring to full blown summer, and CBR's has always been great at expressing the light cheeriness of summer. Everything is perfect - the bass line, the backup singers... it feels like there's not a foot wrong here. 5/5

8) Do You Ever Think of Me? - CBR has a song like this on all her albums, and this one doesn't really add anything new - if anything, it's a poor replication of songs like "I'd Like To" from her first album. It feels a little redundant and stodgy here, to me. It also feels like it's in completely the wrong place in the album - why is it here? This is where I'd probably slot in one of the tracks that are only in the deluxe cut that I think belong in the album proper ("High" or "Ice Cream Colours"), both of which seem to fit better with the story.. 1/5

9) Caramel - critics like this song more than I do, I think. No doubt it's lush, but two things bring me down. The first is that I don't really love the instrumentation in the introduction and bridge. The second is the way she says 'caramel'. Cahramehl? I think this is CBR melting all over the word caramel, but in this case I find it distracting. This song gets a lot of good reviews, but it's not one of my favourites. I think it might have worked better as an album end, as it's a great story counterpart to "the Skies Will Break", while matching "The Sea" in terms of overall feel. 2/5

10) Taken By Dreams - this one took a few listens to creep up on me. At first, it felt like it was sitting in the bland stretch, but it isn't as bland as those around it. One thing I haven't mentioned match is the space imagery going on in the album (Sun, stars, moon, galaxies... it comes up again and again), and this song uses that imagery to talk about the next phase of a relationship with trust - the feel of being able to go together into the unknown with confidence. In places I feel like this song bursts like fireworks. This is CBR's lush style used well, she doesn't get lost in her lyrics but tells a story beautifully. It feels a little like a Janelle Monae song, just CBRed up. 4/5

11) Walk On - An abstract description of what you find when you walk into the unknown? It feels like it fits, but it's one of the more abstract songs on the album. It just feels like one extended groove session. Enjoyable, lush, but ultimately a little forgettable. 3/5

12) Night - this is the end of the album proper. This song feels almost like a reflection backwards - she's been through spring and summer with a new love, and now she looks back at what was and the journey that got her there. I guess it makes sense for her as a bookend to this part of her journey. But it took me a long time to understand this song as the end of the album, whereas with "the Sea" it was immediately apparent, the album had ended perfectly. This song even deliberately ends with an unfinished sentence, as if begging you to see that this journey is unfinished. It has it's own kind of beauty, but for me it's unsatisfying. Swap this and Caramel, and you might even contextualise 'Do You Ever Think of Me' along with this song as a period of doubt and struggle - but then you lose the impact of Taken By Dreams as a song with doubt removed. I dunno, it works by itself, but in the context of the album I don't love it. 2.5/5

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

13) In the Dark - In the dark definitely doesn't feel like it fits in to the album. It feels like it's a song she wrote at some point (perhaps an earlier point, after losing her husband), and that she wanted it to see the light of day despite the fact it didn't fit here. So, good choice to leave it out. It's not special, but it's just nice. 3/5

14) Ice Cream Colours - this song could just about have been the second single of the album, and I'm surprised it didn't make the album proper. It reminds me a lot of her second single from "The Sea" (Paris Nights/New York Mornings), the big difference being that here she shows off her full range. It feels like she sings with ice cream colours. I can't help but listen to this without tapping, and every time she sings arpeggios down two octaves in a couple of seconds, I marvel at her ability to sing incredibly technically difficult passages and make them sounds like they are as easy as breathing. I mean, lines like "we're animate we're intimate we're wild' and 'the distance is immeasurable in time' go down like a sip of whiskey despite them happening in a blink. It's gorgeous. And the way the song finishes is great. It's everything I love about CBR. 5/5

15) High - I honestly don't know how this song didn't make the album proper. It's probably the most heartfelt and beautiful rendering of new love I've ever heard. Is it my favourite CBR song? Is it currently my favourite song full stop? Maybe. Such a simple little piano line, such a simple melody. It's just a few words, describing how words aren't needed when you're truly in love, and sung with reality. It's a deeply personal song, it speaks straight to CBR's introversion, her ideal world being one of the intimacy between two people in love, and I think it speaks straight to my soul. The climax is simple, but the song comes with so much emotional weight its earned, and she gives it just one stanza earlier than you'd expect. When the song ends with the words, "I don't want to break the spell", well, I don't. So I often listen to it again. If I could give it 6/5 I would. I'd have gladly taken this as an ending to the album as well. 5/5

16) Push on for the Dawn - this feels like another throwback to earlier stylings, and I wonder if that's why it missed the album. It would have fit in the middle of "The Sea" perfectly. I love the use of the hammond organ, it works well, actually the instrumentation overall is great in this song. I think it works better as an album ending than "Night" does. It's a beautiful song, and I think it suffers in my mind because of coming after a song so amazing, even though it doesn't deserve to. 3.5/5
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Re: SAW [Week 16 - "The Heart Speaks in Whispers" (Deluxe Edition)]

#934

Post by JaggedJimmyJay »

I gave it a second listen today and it remained an easy-to-enjoy experience. I fell asleep at one point, but that wasn't Corinne's fault -- I was tired. :p

It's nice to have an album that doesn't demand that much of the listener without losing any emotive power.
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Re: SAW [Week 16 - "The Heart Speaks in Whispers" (Deluxe Edition)]

#935

Post by G-Man »

I've fallen behind a bit. Here is my review for The Mountain Goats' All Hail West Texas.

This is the kind of quasi-folk revival music that hippie-Jesus types play in college town coffee shops. I wouldn't be surprised to hear a review of this kind of stuff on NPR. In other words, this sort of thing is something I'd have kind of sneered at behind its back. I came away liking it more than I ever thought possible. That doesn't mean I loved it though.

The closest thing from my musical wheelhouse to compare it to was a Cake demo sans all the wry humor and trumpet. I even said I preferred the humorous tunes more than the serious ones. Sure enough, I ended up eating my words and preferring the latter after all. The reason for that is probably because I am "old."

I'm approaching my mid-30s. A week from now, I'll have been married for nine years. My oldest child is going to be six in a few months. I lost a job, worried about money, felt like it was all somehow my fault, and clawed my way back up to a comfortable existence, only to find myself wondering if my life is still a mess despite all the perfect family photos adorning my Facebook page. In other words, I've lived.

The best songs from The Mountain Goats' All Hail West Texas are about the truisms faced by certain people who have lived. These people are either coasting, sagging, or spiraling out of control. Thankfully, I'm not as despondent, bitter, or frivolous as some of John Darnielle's subjects, but I get it. I've seen and been through enough to have caught glimpses of these sorts of tales in my own life or the lives of others around me.

The album starts off with a silly tale of a couple of metalheads who have their ambitions squashed by parents, teachers, and other 'old' people. They ultimately set out to make the old saying 'living well is the best revenge' their purpose in life. It was amusing and a fun opener. Track two was a peaked-too-early tale that might resonate with football obsessed Texas but its subject wasn't the kind of character I have much sympathy for. It was adequate. Track three more of the Cake vibe going for it but it wasn't as cheeky or silly as what came before, so it started that samey slide that popped up here and there on the album.

Three tracks in and I was feeling okay but not thrilled. Throughout the listens, certain tracks grew on me quite a bit. So much so that I couldn't pick just three songs. "The Mess Inside" and "Fault Lines" are companion pieces. They both feature tales of a couple who can't seem to help but spend their money in ways that might make their humdrum lives more exciting, but all they do is make the comedown harder and more depressing as their home life falls apart. "The Mess Inside" still has a glimmer of hope, clinging to that feeling of being in love early on but struggling to see it in the present. "Fault Lines" lacks any hope and is just bitterness wearing a veil of desperation, as neither party in the couple is happy yet they both lack the courage break it off.

"Riches and Wonders" is the crushing weight of realizing that puppy love is just a phase and that growing into adulthood and becoming responsible kind of sucks. The line "I want to go home, but I am home" is the cracking of the spirit of a 30-something like myself, yearning to go back to carefree childhood days when your parents were the responsible ones who made everything stick together, only to finally realize that you can't go back and to even wish for it is kind of pathetic. That was a gut-punch of a song.

The other track I couldn't let go of was "Blues in Dallas." I liked the keyboard/organ sound and the slightly religious nature of the lyrics. It's a hipster singing about finality, but it's still about finality. Another track that I liked a lot was "Pink and Blue." I'm not sure if it's about twins or just the pink and blue stripes on a newborn's hospital cap. Either way, as a father, I could resonate with some of the subtle panic.

The lo-fi aspect worked this time but I could see how this approach might get old fast. With just his guitar on most tracks, it understandably suffers from sameness in places. Another minor quibble I have is that sometimes the lyrics get too pretentious and name drop stuff that's beyond the sphere of knowledge of his subjects. It also occasionally seems to get quirk for quirkiness's sake. If The Mountain Goats evolve like Ricochet says they have, they could still be interesting. We'll see if I follow up on their recent works or not.

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Re: SAW [Week 16 - "The Heart Speaks in Whispers" (Deluxe Edition)]

#936

Post by G-Man »

I had my first listen of the current album of the week yesterday. Whoever comes up with all these flowery music genre names has too much time on their hands. This is contemporary R&B with streaks of Pop. I've said before that prior albums weren't my normal thing. In this case, the genre itself is one that I am disinterested with on the whole. My initial reaction was very neutral and that the album was too long. I read some of you speak of "High" as a standout track. Unless my track list was mixed up, it failed to register with me.

We'll give it another crack today.
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Re: SAW [Week 16 - "The Heart Speaks in Whispers" (Deluxe Edition)]

#937

Post by nutella »

I enjoyed it at first but I do agree it dragged on a bit too long.
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Re: SAW [Week 16 - "The Heart Speaks in Whispers" (Deluxe Edition)]

#938

Post by Tangrowth »

I'll be listening to it today! It's been a busy week.
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Re: SAW [Week 16 - "The Heart Speaks in Whispers" (Deluxe Edition)]

#939

Post by Golden »

nutella wrote: Fri Jul 07, 2017 5:21 pm I enjoyed it at first but I do agree it dragged on a bit too long.
Partly because it's the deluxe edition, but I think it drags from about track 8 through 13.
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Re: SAW [Week 16 - "The Heart Speaks in Whispers" (Deluxe Edition)]

#940

Post by Tangrowth »

Man, that was tough to get through, not because I thought it was a poor quality product or anything, but it just really wasn't my thing. I'm ridiculously picky when it comes to what soul I actually like though, and I've yet to find a neo-soul album I actually enjoy all the way through, so I guess it's not at all surprising. I gave it a 2.0. Sorry, Golden. I'm on a rough streak with albums in here it seems.
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Re: SAW [Week 17 - "Within the Realm of a Dying Sun"]

#941

Post by JaggedJimmyJay »

Week 17: Dead Can Dance - Within the Realm of a Dying Sun
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Re: SAW [Week 17 - "Within the Realm of a Dying Sun"]

#942

Post by Tangrowth »

Oh cool! Thanks for voting my submission, folks!

This album doesn't have a particularly strong emotional attachment or story for me, but it is definitely a favorite of mine, and I think it's just really unique and neat. Hope you all like it.
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Re: SAW [Week 17 - "Within the Realm of a Dying Sun"]

#943

Post by Tangrowth »

Hey folks, looks like that playlist linked on Youtube has the songs but in the incorrect order. Try this one instead if you're using Youtube.
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Re: SAW [Week 17 - "Within the Realm of a Dying Sun"]

#944

Post by Ricochet »

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Re: SAW [Week 17 - "Within the Realm of a Dying Sun"]

#945

Post by Ricochet »

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Re: SAW [Week 17 - "Within the Realm of a Dying Sun"]

#946

Post by nutella »

Oop, I never gave a rating for AHWT. Going with 3.5 for that I guess. And let's say 3 for CBR :shrug: These numbers mean very little but I don't like leaving holes on Rico's chart XD
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Re: SAW [Week 17 - "Within the Realm of a Dying Sun"]

#947

Post by Ricochet »

Thank you for your service. :tips_hat:
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Re: SAW [Week 17 - "Within the Realm of a Dying Sun"]

#948

Post by Golden »

Perfect review Rico. I really agree with basically everything you said (although obviously I like some of the more main stream chorus tendencies slightly more than you). I give the Heart Speaks in Whispers a 4 - the main problem is too many tracks that would have been better off excised and that you have to work hard to see it as an album (unlike the Sea). The Sea is definitely her best so far, but I feel like she has an elusive 5/5 album in her.
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Re: SAW [Week 17 - "Within the Realm of a Dying Sun"]

#949

Post by JaggedJimmyJay »

I seem to be the opposite on some of these CBR judgments. I think her albums are ranked:

Debut > THSW > The Sea

Don't worry MP, I'll probably get to Dead Can Dance today. :p I've actually heard that album already, but I don't remember much about it so it'll still feel fresh.
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Overall: 73-57 (.56) | Town 49-41 (.54) | Mafia 18-11 (.62) | Independent 6-4 (.60)

The Syndicate: Town 23-26; Mafia 10-5; Indy 5-1 | RateYourMusic: Town 14-13; Mafia 5-4; Indy 0-3 | Mafia Universe: Town 6-0; Mafia 1-0 | Student Doctor Network: Town 2-1; Mafia 1-0 | HeroClixRealms: Town 1-0; Mafia 0-1 | Bulbagarden: Mafia 0-1; Indy 1-0 | 2+2 POG: Town 1-0 | Naruto Forums: Town 0-1 | Personality Café: Town 1-0 | Vendetta Strada: Town 0-1 | Mafia451: Town 1-0 | Wintreath: Mafia 1-0

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Most Valuable Player, Maffies 7 and 9
Best Roleplay, Maffies 4 and 6
Spirit Award, Maffies 9
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Re: SAW [Week 17 - "Within the Realm of a Dying Sun"]

#950

Post by G-Man »

I really struggled to stay focused on the CBR album. Several songs would go by without registering. I blame it on being swamped at work between new demands from the bosses and trying to get a few extra things done before vacation. I'll review the higher ranking tracks tonight if I can, so I can try to rip through the current album of the week before Friday.
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