Ukulele Songs: Official Album Thread

[stip]

the original thread is archived here

[Birds in Hell]

This song is lovely.

[harmless]

Pretty great album and a good follow-up to ITW.

[dimejinky99]

I'm always a little confused that this album didn't get more appreciation.
It's a little gem.

[stip]

it was a repetitive listen for me. I love sleeping by myself and without you, though

[dimejinky99]

Meaning you played it repeatedly or you found it repetitive?
I understand the former. It could easily get repetitive. But I can listen to the whole thing through and not find it repetitive.

[harmless]

I guess it depends on what the ukulele does to your ears. For some it'll piss them off and be too jangly. For me, it transports me to a lonely tropical island in the rain.

[Kevin Davis]

This is my favorite PJ-related product since "Riot Act."

Faint praise, some might say, but there you have it. I think it's a wonderful record, I'm sure my thoughts on it are somewhere on the old board.

[dimejinky99]

One of the very best things this record has going for it in my ears, is that is fairly timeless.
The uke being what it is, the mix of old, new and cover songs.
I think people will come back to it in years to come and wonder why they didn't like it more.

[stip]

Meaning you played it repeatedly or you found it repetitive?
I understand the former. It could easily get repetitive. But I can listen to the whole thing through and not find it repetitive.

both, I guess. It got a bunch of listens, and there was some stuff on it I quite liked, but the uke started to be a bit offputting over a whole album. I bet I would have liked it twice as much if it was half as long.


Light Today was a nice one too. And I was a big fan of the dream a little dream cover.

I was never a big fan of those uke tracks to begin with (the ones from 2001 or so), so a good chunk of the originals were not songs I was in love with.

[digster]

I haven't listened to this in quite a while. I think the format (the uke and just the uke) made it really important that songs be home runs, and I just think with one or two exceptions that wasn't really the case. I do enjoy Can't Keep, Without You, a few of the earlier uke songs and one or two of the covers (I remember going back to the Cat Power duet often).

[dimejinky99]

I'm probably speaking out of school, but I always loved the version of sleepless nights, with Beck. Not sure if I can pick between the two now but it probably has it by a hair.
Sorry Glen

[Revolver]

I remember vividly one night where I sat on my balcony, smoked a pack of cigarettes, drank about 16 Pabst Blue Ribbons and listened to Ukulele Songs at least three times because I was depressed about a relationship coming to an end. I was being an emo bitch. That said, the album stills holds a special place in my heart. "Sleeping By Myself" has always been one of my favorites, and I'm dreading the song being massacred on Lightning Bolt.

[McParadigm]

I remember vividly one night where I sat on my balcony, smoked a pack of cigarettes, drank about 16 Pabst Blue Ribbons and listened to Ukulele Songs at least three times because I was depressed about a relationship coming to an end. I was being an emo bitch.

I can't wait to see what my fellow under-40's are going to be like when they try to reminisce as old men.

[Monkey_Driven]

Really enjoy this one.

Tonight You Belong to Me was my wife and I's first dance at our wedding. We are big fans of the movie "The Jerk".

[Kevin Davis]

I think the format (the uke and just the uke) made it really important that songs be home runs

I actually think the opposite is true for me--I think the relaxed, one-guy-in-a-room feel of the album lends itself extremely well to some of the songs feeling sketchy, fleeting, sometimes little more than fragments of ideas that materialize and then dissipate. I like the intimacy of the recording--I find it the most nuanced, affecting document of Eddie's post-"Riot Act" voice, and I like that it links him to some lines of influence previously foreign to him.

I wish he was still writing songs for Pearl Jam with these types of odd chord pairings, harmonies, etc.

[Jorge]

I wish it really was a one-guy-in-a-room recording. I'm annoyed by the superfluous overdubs and the doubletracked ukulele. I wish it all sounded like the Cat Power duet, which I understand was recorded 10 years ago. Also not a fan of most of the songs, which means I never really reach for this one.

[Jorge]

Also, I feel like Ed's present-day vocal tics are particularly unnerving in these recordings. I find "You're True" really hard to listen to.

[digster]

I think the format (the uke and just the uke) made it really important that songs be home runs

I actually think the opposite is true for me--I think the relaxed, one-guy-in-a-room feel of the album lends itself extremely well to some of the songs feeling sketchy, fleeting, sometimes little more than fragments of ideas that materialize and then dissipate. I like the intimacy of the recording--I find it the most nuanced, affecting document of Eddie's post-"Riot Act" voice, and I like that it links him to some lines of influence previously foreign to him.

I wish he was still writing songs for Pearl Jam with these types of odd chord pairings, harmonies, etc.

Fair enough...maybe not home runs, but, for lack of a better term, compelling. I'll admit that more often than not I don't find these types of albums to be particularly enthralling (the guy in a room kind of thing). There's exceptions like Nebraska where the quality of the songs, the way in which they're performed, and the manner in which they are produced congeal into this excellent result, but more often than not they feel like missed opportunities.

I think I also feel differently about Ed's voice on this record. I'm with plat on this one; all of the things I dislike about Ed's current voice (and also, to be fair, how Ed's voice is being recorded/produced) are front and center on this record, but without anything additional in terms of instrumentation or arrangement to draw me back in.

[gardenparty]

I'm probably speaking out of school, but I always loved the version of sleepless nights, with Beck. Not sure if I can pick between the two now but it probably has it by a hair.
Sorry Glen

ed mentioned in an article some time ago that he would love to do more collabs with Beck. Wish it had come to fruition. I love Glen but this song just fits Beck a little more.

I really enjoy Uke Songs. I put it right with ITW in that i don't listen to them often but i love having them if i need them

for me ITW is a fall album and Uke songs is a spring album