Page 18 of 41

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

Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2017 5:34 am
by nutella
Oh it's the Mountain Goats this week! This album I'm quite familiar with, has quite a few special tracks though I don't think I'd say it's my favorite of theirs -- though it's hard to say what is, with tMG I tend to have a scattered bunch of particular songs that I like/are important to me that are picked out from various albums. I'll go more in depth later about the somewhat unique context of my familiarity/interaction with Mountain Goats music :ninja:

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

Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2017 8:40 am
by Ricochet
Spoiler: show

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

Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2017 9:00 am
by Tangrowth
Hey guys! Sorry I have gotten behind here, it's been hectic! I look forward to hearing Last Dinosaurs, Pandora's Box, and now The Mountain Goats, which are all new discoveries for me. Should be listening to them this week if not today. :D

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

Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2017 9:10 am
by Tangrowth
Also, I think I will change mine. Not feeling like submitting hip hop again this time, though I think I will try again in the future with perhaps a different album.

I would like to submit:

Dead Can Dance - Within the Realm of a Dying Sun

YouTube playlist

RYM listing

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

Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2017 11:35 am
by triceratopzeuhl
I submit Townes Van Zandt - Townes Van Zandt (1969, folk/country)

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

Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2017 11:39 am
by insertnamehere
HAIL SATAN

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

Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2017 6:06 pm
by thellama73
Aw man, I missed talking about my own submission. Bummer. I'm amused to see that it was roundly hated though.

I'm back from traveling for a while, by the way.

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

Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2017 6:45 pm
by G-Man
thellama73 wrote: Sun Jun 25, 2017 6:06 pm Aw man, I missed talking about my own submission. Bummer. I'm amused to see that it was roundly hated though.

I'm back from traveling for a while, by the way.
I didn't hate it. I'll try to get my review up tonight.

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

Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2017 7:29 pm
by thellama73
Also, ALl Hail West Texas is a great album by a great band. I love the lo-fi approach. It makes me feel like anyone could write a song, even me.

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

Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2017 11:01 am
by Tangrowth
Morning, folks!

I actually found time for all three yesterday while I was working, and assigned my ratings as follows:

Last Dinosaurs - In a Million Years - 2.5
Pandora's Box - Original Sin - 1.5
The Mountain Goats - All Hail West Texas - 2.5

Last Dinosaurs was an interesting listen, and I must say it was refreshing with this (and all three of these even) to hear an artist I've never heard of before. Awesome to hear new things. :D But anyway, this album started out sort of solid but then quickly started becoming monotonous and headed towards slumpland with every song trying too hard to imitate the same general sound. I also tend to have issues really becoming emotionally attached or intrigued by indie rock in general, not sure why, so there's nothing particularly noteworthy to say about the band being significantly worse than others like Arcade Fire or such in that regard. For whatever reason most well-acclaimed indie rock acts get the "this is good, but not great" reaction out of me or "this is great, but not amazing" reaction at best. There are a few notable exceptions (namely Guided by Voices), but yeah. The whole general umbrella of lo-fi/indie rock/etc. can be very hit or miss for me (more on this for Mountain Goats).

Pandora's Box, well... it was interesting and bombastic at least. Just not my thing. I had a really hard time making it through most sections of the album, but it had its OK moments. Like Rico, I have a hard time not hearing how any artist could create such a work while taking him or herself seriously, but it's too tough to tell in this case.

The Mountain Goats, this was a disappointment for me. I have heard good things about them in the past but just never checked them out. What I heard pretty much continuously inspired a response of indifference. I had a hard time caring about any of the songs and they all just kind of went in one ear and out the other. Unlike other lo-fi bands that have been more successful to my ears like Guided by Voices, I don't remember what any of these songs sound like. Obviously I need to listen to it again, but I wasn't really impressed or unimpressed; I just didn't really think much of anything about any of the songs. I didn't particularly think the songwriting was noteworthy in any way positive or negative.

I will at least be revisiting The Mountain Goats later this week.

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

Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2017 3:32 pm
by nutella
If this wasn't your thing I would strongly recommend checking out some of the Mountain Goats' later stuff (Tallahassee, Sunset Tree, Heretic Pride, Transcendental Youth, etc.) I think a lot of their stronger material is in those albums.

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

Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2017 4:07 pm
by Ricochet
Image

Getting low with those rates, fellas. Do we need another quality batch of Jethro Tull to improve that?

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

Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2017 6:45 pm
by JaggedJimmyJay
I'm listening to The Mountain Goats now. Halfway through the album they seem pretty agreeable. The first thing I noticed was how similar to Neutral Milk Hotel they sound; I actually checked to see if there was any band member crossover (there isn't).

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

Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2017 7:06 pm
by JaggedJimmyJay
I'm feeling pretty good about this one through one spin. 3.5

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

Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2017 9:05 pm
by Golden
Darn, I'm so far behind. I keep thinking I'll be able to catch up and another week ticks by.

I am going to make a concerted effort to start this again next week, when my schedule begins to start clearing.

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

Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2017 9:09 pm
by nutella
@Rico, my Pandora's Box rating is 1.5 at most

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

Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2017 10:00 pm
by thellama73
Honestly, earlier Mountain Goats stuff is better, as it is rawer and has more of a sense of humor, but I like All Hail West Texas well enough.

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

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

Image

Album: Fun House
Artist: The Stooges
Released: July 7, 1970
Genre: Proto-Punk/Hard Rock
7 Tracks, 36:35
Available on Spotify and YouTube

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

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2017 12:40 pm
by G-Man
Catching up with my review for Pandora's Box...

As a fan of Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell album, I have an appreciation of Jim Steinman's work. The dude is flat-out weird as can be but he knows how to compose a rich, enveloping song. I don't know whether Steinman takes his work as seriously as a prog-rock band might or not. I suspect he is a touch ego-maniacal but what successful music industry person isn't?

I think the debate over whether Steinman treats his work as serious-business high art or tongue-in-cheek silliness misses the point. What cannot be debated is that Steinman is a very indulgent person. He strives for the biggest and best sound possible, even if it means wrapping lush orchestrations and over-the-top bravado around the crude and common subject matter of lust.

The first time I listened to Original Sin, I thought to myself, "Most of these songs would sound better with Meat Loaf at the helm." The more I listened to it, however, I was better able to ignore the cover versions that I was more familiar with and take Pandora's Box in as a project in its own right.

Maybe Steinman still had a grudge against Meat Loaf at the time. Maybe, as the internet suggests, Steinman switched gears to the all-female ensmble because Meat Loaf was having throat and voice issues when Original Sin was taking flight in Steinman's mind. Heck, maybe Steinman just wanted to avoid creating another stand-alone lead to overshadow his behind-the-scenes work. Whatever the underlying motives for this weird wet dream set to music, Steinman still does what he does best- he makes music that is fun to listen to.

The "first track" I lumped in with the title track. Track space is sacred. Don't give a 20-second intro its own track space! "Original Sin" is a potent opener. I love the chorus and the way the high and low vocals work together. The lyrics aren't too absurd and fit the vocals- that yearning and ferocity!

"Twentieth Century Fox" irked the crap out of me the first few times. In the end, it's still completely out of place and an inferior cover but the music grew on me and I became nothing more than indifferent to it. I'm not usually a lyric-focused listener (which probably helps me enjoy Steinman's bombast like I do), but "Safe Sex" took things too far. Despite an epiphany that told me that this was Steinman's attempt at a kinky James Bond theme (all the ingredients are there!), the song still just comes across as the kind of tune that would have featured in Fifty Shades of Grey had it been made in 1989.

So, yeah, Original Sin got off to a rocky start but it really does make up for it. I think tracks two and three lowered my expectations for the rest of the album and took me out of it the first few spins. But it grew on me in time. The songs that I know the covers of were still solid on this record.

Picking three songs off of this album was tough because I could take four or five. My favorite has to be "Good Girls Go to Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere)." I know the Meat Loaf version well enough from Bat Out of Hell II, but I have to say that this original version is superior because of the range of the female vocalists. Second pick would be "Original Sin" because of its potency.

Third would be "It's All Coming Back to Me Now." Celine Dion had me crushing on her in 1996 and that was THE dance song at just about every middle school social/dance back in the day. The Pandora's Box version pales in comparison to Dion's but it's still a very good song here. Steinman's creepy spoken-word lead-in tarnishes the overall impact of the tune but I can ignore his yammerings. I usually do.

At the end of the day, Original Sin is good, schlocky fun. It's the perfect kind of thing to pull from for drunken karaoke if there's no Meat Loaf to choose from. If Bat Out of Hell was Jim Steinman capturing lightning in a bottle with his unrelenting indulgence and refusal to walk back any of the raunch and cheese, Original Sin is an less-successful but still appreciable companion piece.

It may be inconsistent but it still put a smile on my face. I can't argue with that.

G-Man Scale: 3.46 out of 5
Rico Scale: 3.5 out of 5

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

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2017 1:36 pm
by thellama73
I should add that, while it would be inaccurate to call Steinman's work parody or pastiche, he certainly does have a sense of humor about his songs. Good Girls Go to Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere) is a Mae West quote. The Future Ain't What It Used to Be is a Yogi Bera quote. He is self-consciously over the top, but as he says "if you don't go over the top, you can't see what's on the other side."

I'll also add that I loved Rico's review.

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

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2017 3:47 pm
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.

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

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2017 6:06 pm
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

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

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2017 6:25 pm
by JaggedJimmyJay
Glad to have you aboard sprityo!

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

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2017 6:25 pm
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

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

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2017 6:28 pm
by sprityo
I suppose I should include the album cover and release year
Spoiler: show
Image
Möbius Trip and Hadron Kaleido - 2011- by Michael Guy Bowman

Linki: jay has my covered :p

*and Jay has covered your cover with a spoiler :p

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

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2017 6:43 pm
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.

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

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2017 8:42 pm
by G-Man
Sure, Jimmy, just ignore my submission for the approval of the Midnight Society. I see how it is. :pout:

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

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2017 8:46 pm
by JaggedJimmyJay
Whoops, my bad. I have shimmied you in there. :nicenod:

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

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2017 8:56 pm
by G-Man
JaggedJimmyJay wrote: Tue Jun 27, 2017 8:46 pm Whoops, my bad. I have shimmied you in there. :nicenod:
:beer:

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

Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2017 1:49 pm
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.
Full album on youtube:

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

Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2017 2:41 pm
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:

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

Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2017 2:50 pm
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."

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

Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2017 3:50 pm
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".

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

Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 10:01 am
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.

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

Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 10:19 am
by Tangrowth
G-Man wrote: Tue Jun 27, 2017 12:22 am For the next poll, I am nominating this gem:

Image

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!

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

Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 9:20 am
by G-Man
When's the new poll going up?

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

Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 4:35 am
by Ricochet
Uh poll?

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

Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 6:36 am
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.

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

Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 7:54 am
by Ricochet
Poll is up. Vote nao!

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

Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 11:02 am
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.

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

Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 4:14 pm
by Ricochet
Last vid went down to just 5 views lol.


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

Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 7:19 pm
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!

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

Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 7:24 pm
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!

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

Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 7:56 pm
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.

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

Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 4:51 am
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.

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

Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 9:00 am
by Ricochet
Start with Vanessa Rossetto and then hate me forever for the advice.

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

Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 2:34 pm
by JaggedJimmyJay
Image

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

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

Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 2:40 pm
by JaggedJimmyJay
Week 16: Corinne Bailey Rae - The Heart Speaks in Whispers (Deluxe Edition)
Image
Submitted by Golden in a time before time
Available on YouTube and Spotify

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

Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 3:23 pm
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.

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

Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 4:09 pm
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.