Down is like the best song on Riot Act and it's not even on Riot Act.
That's not really true. Riot Act has some good songs. Can't Keep, Save You, Love Boat Captain, Thumbing My Way, All or None are all great.
Cropduster and Ghost coming one after the other is pretty ehhhh and starts making the album feel sort of drole, but there's still a chance to save it at this point. I don't hate these songs by themselves, but they should be wary of putting too many more like it. If these songs were the sort of fillery downpoint of the album - the songs that are alright and you don't really need them but they're good enough - it'd actually be a pretty good one.
I Am Mine honestly I think sucks and I would ditch it too if I could. It doesn't fit anywhere but I guess some people like it so keep it whatever.
You Are, Get Right, and Bushleaguer I find interesting...they are the fun fillery songs that every album needs.
but Green Disease and Help Help are so bad and drab that they bloat the album with a bunch of subpar stuff. These songs are the bottom bar that Cropduster and Ghost SHOULD be occupying but because they exist they lower the average so much.
Down is a great song and a much needed bit of energy. Undone is good as well and also gives some color to the album.
The album is much more balanced if you ditch those two tracks and put on two good ones. It becomes a much better album than that Pearl Jam album that drones on and on.
Basically Green Disease and Help Help have no place on this album because Cropduster/Ghost and Get Right/You Are have already occupied the two roles they could be fulfilling. If Green Disease/Help Help occupied either of those two roles they'd be doing it much worse, but having all six bloats the album. Down/Undone saves it.
And removing Green Disease and Help Help also makes both those other song pairings stronger because you think if this is the fillery stuff this is actually pretty good.
mikejasond wrote:Basically Green Disease and Help Help have no place on this album because Cropduster/Ghost and Get Right/You Are have already occupied the two roles they could be fulfilling. If Green Disease/Help Help occupied either of those two roles they'd be doing it much worse, but having all six bloats the album. Down/Undone saves it.
And removing Green Disease and Help Help also makes both those other song pairings stronger because you think if this is the fillery stuff this is actually pretty good.
I think you're least favorite Riot Act songs are my favorite Riot Act songs.
mikejasond wrote:Basically Green Disease and Help Help have no place on this album because Cropduster/Ghost and Get Right/You Are have already occupied the two roles they could be fulfilling. If Green Disease/Help Help occupied either of those two roles they'd be doing it much worse, but having all six bloats the album. Down/Undone saves it.
And removing Green Disease and Help Help also makes both those other song pairings stronger because you think if this is the fillery stuff this is actually pretty good.
I think you're least favorite Riot Act songs are my favorite Riot Act songs.
FWIW I think I would enjoy Help Help more on a different album. It's not so much that its bad by itself it's just that the back half of Riot Act all steps on each other for me. It just feels like a bunch of C-Tier songs in a row. And I already consider Cropduster and Ghost to be like...B minus tier. And C-tier songs can be good and fun its just the fact Riot Act has so much in a row just makes the album seem half done to me and they shoved a bunch of random stuff in at the end.
Help Help is really good, in my top 5 on Riot Act along with You Are, Cropduster, Get Right, and All or None. Down is good as B-Side. It’s a fun little song when I randomly hear it once or twice a year.
Down and Undone and Other Side should ALL have been on RA to make it a double album. It's got that double album feel about it - i.e a bit of a pick-and-mix, no overall theme - so they should have gone the whole hog.
