verb_to_trust wrote:So after reading that Chud and KD didn't really dig this so much I decided there wasn't much reason to wait for the vinyl to come next week.Listened to the stream on itunes last night a few times. I will now bless you all with my thoughts.
- Spoiler: show
The record starts off on the right foot with Getaway, even though the leads never quite seem to take off like you would want them to. Mike's tone specifically seems to have been in a downward spiral since Riot Act era. My Father's Son is also a nice little idea. I actually wish Ed would write from this sort of perspective more often. The bridge didn't bother me nearly as much as Ed not really selling the lyrics enough in my opinion. On a song like Footsteps or even Once he really sold you on that type of shit. Sirens is just terrible, overproduced, shit that actually makes Lightning Bolt seem like the hottest girl in the bar when its mercifully over. I trashed LB a lot after Wrigley but it really does sound much better on the record.
Infallible is fine. The chorus is fine. Not sure what people are freaking out about there. But if you listen to the BOB droppings too closely you start thinking you're playing Super Mario World. Pendulum is easily the most interesting song on the record to my ears. I am man enough to admit I was wrong about the weird music we got in that teaser vid being something a song would be based around. Stip and others were right to be excited by that. This is a pretty good example of Ed not screeching like a cat or fighting to get it back again. Its a 50 year old smokers sweet spot. It would be nice if he realized this and settled into this sort of a grove more consistently. I liked this song in the same way I liked Cold Confession so much.
Swallowed Whole is a missed opportunity. Mike really had a chance to stretch out on the lead. Not only does his guitar tone sound pretty thin on most of the record, but the solos just aren't interesting. Let The Records Play really sucks. Stone and Mike don't have what it takes to pull something like this off. They are just aping a style as a gimmick and doing a poor job of it. Is Mike's solo the same as SW? I can't tell as there is absolutely no way for me to tell his leads apart anymore.
Sleeping By Myself is lovely. Thank God the band didn't suffocate this or put BOB front and center with some xylophones or a kazoo....or recording himself slapping his tiny flaccid cock on a bongo or something. I'm totally fine with this being on the record and its probably in the top half of songs for me.
Yellow Moon was pretty disappointing. The acoustic guitars on this record sound pretty terrible. Not warm or thick enough. Everything is tinny. Mike was in Shadow though and sometimes we forget he sucks at things like "being original" and "tone". To be fair, this is the closest he comes to a good lead on the entire record. Eddie needs to realize that if you are going to sing a song about the moon you need to keep it simple. Think Gentle Moon by Sun Kil Moon......or Goodnight Moon, the children's book. I have no idea what he is going on about and apparently the moon is yellow. Whatever. Again, a missed opportunity.
A lot of people may think the piano at the beginning of Future Days is some wannabe Bruce Springteen shit that BOB came up with but its actually an old vault recording of Ed's first child being aborted from 1992. That's not an electric piano, its a doctor drumming his claws and hammers on the operating table while Jeremy plays on a radio the background Nip/Tuck style.....as the afterbirth splatters on the floor. This song sucks.
Its not a record I will be able to spin on vinyl and that sucks. There is just no way I can gut it through the completely terrible moments that exist here. The songs that I will probably listen to in the future are Getaway and Pendulum. I can see myself voluntarily listening to Infallible, SBS and MFS too. The real surprise here is that the 6th song that I don't actually hate is Lightning Bolt. The rest sucks or is totally forgettable.
Stop waiting for Ten Part II man. It's never gonna happen.
