darth_vedder wrote:I even love Hitchhiker. I don't think it would fit the album at all, but it's a great b-side / outtake.
Hitchhiker!
Man, I always forget this was a Binaural outtake. You're right, it doesn't really fit on the album, but I really love it. It's so much fun. I'll have to play around with an alternate tracklist that includes Hitchhiker.
digster wrote:Also, I think I would disagree about Backspacer's consistency. The gap between it's best and worst track (The End and Amongst the Waves) may be greater than almost any other one of their records.
it's not so much the gap between a high and a low the way I'm thinking of this as much as how many songs you'd rate as really good, how many as average, how many as below average, etc. Whether they like Backspacer or don't I think (maybe this is wrong) most posters either think the songs are mostly all pretty good or all pretty weak
digster wrote:Also, I think I would disagree about Backspacer's consistency. The gap between it's best and worst track (The End and Amongst the Waves) may be greater than almost any other one of their records.
Those are two of my favorite three songs on the album. I left the "Amongst the Waves is garbage" stuff in the dust a while ago.
Force of Nature is one of my least favorite songs in the catalog. But the other 9 songs are good to great. FoN is the only outlier.
yeah that's nicely put. the number of 'outliers' on the album is for me the mark of consistency, not the size of the outlier.
digster wrote:Also, I think I would disagree about Backspacer's consistency. The gap between it's best and worst track (The End and Amongst the Waves) may be greater than almost any other one of their records.
it's not so much the gap between a high and a low the way I'm thinking of this as much as how many songs you'd rate as really good, how many as average, how many as below average, etc. Whether they like Backspacer or don't I think (maybe this is wrong) most posters either think the songs are mostly all pretty good or all pretty weak
I suppose with that definition I would agree about Backspacer, although does having consistency automatically necessitate having quality? Probably not by the strictest definition, but it does seem off to call an album consistent if it's consistently mediocre or poor. But I see your point.
I've mentioned it before recently, but when it comes to Puzzles and Games, what's there beyond a great chorus? The song barely seems completed, much less a great song in it's own right. I wonder how much of it is filling in the blanks of what a great song it could have been, rather than what it is.
digster wrote:Also, I think I would disagree about Backspacer's consistency. The gap between it's best and worst track (The End and Amongst the Waves) may be greater than almost any other one of their records.
it's not so much the gap between a high and a low the way I'm thinking of this as much as how many songs you'd rate as really good, how many as average, how many as below average, etc. Whether they like Backspacer or don't I think (maybe this is wrong) most posters either think the songs are mostly all pretty good or all pretty weak
I suppose with that definition I would agree about Backspacer, although does having consistency automatically necessitate having quality? Probably not by the strictest definition, but it does seem off to call an album consistent if it's consistently mediocre or poor. But I see your point.
Yeah, I don't think consistency and quality have anything to do with each other. Nickleback is a terrible band. They're always terrible. So, at least, they are consistent.
digster wrote:I've mentioned it before recently, but when it comes to Puzzles and Games, what's there beyond a great chorus? The song barely seems completed, much less a great song in it's own right. I wonder how much of it is filling in the blanks of what a great song it could have been, rather than what it is.
The song seems like it's still in demo form, I think. But it feels like a complete demo - a complete thought. It just hasn't been fully fleshed out, maybe. But all the elements are there.
digster wrote:Also, I think I would disagree about Backspacer's consistency. The gap between it's best and worst track (The End and Amongst the Waves) may be greater than almost any other one of their records.
it's not so much the gap between a high and a low the way I'm thinking of this as much as how many songs you'd rate as really good, how many as average, how many as below average, etc. Whether they like Backspacer or don't I think (maybe this is wrong) most posters either think the songs are mostly all pretty good or all pretty weak
I suppose with that definition I would agree about Backspacer, although does having consistency automatically necessitate having quality? Probably not by the strictest definition, but it does seem off to call an album consistent if it's consistently mediocre or poor. But I see your point.
consistency is definitely not the same thing as quality. The point this was coming out of was just my observation that the majority of PJ albums seem to have a wide mix of songs on them in terms of quality--that only a few stayed at the same level (for better or worse) throughout
digster wrote:I've mentioned it before recently, but when it comes to Puzzles and Games, what's there beyond a great chorus? The song barely seems completed, much less a great song in it's own right. I wonder how much of it is filling in the blanks of what a great song it could have been, rather than what it is.
well it is a great chorus, which is no small thing (the nice bridge too, but LY has that also). I also liked the hushed, running water feel to the verses, which transition really nicely into the chorus. I really love the verses music, actually
digster wrote:I've mentioned it before recently, but when it comes to Puzzles and Games, what's there beyond a great chorus? The song barely seems completed, much less a great song in it's own right. I wonder how much of it is filling in the blanks of what a great song it could have been, rather than what it is.
The song seems like it's still in demo form, I think. But it feels like a complete demo - a complete thought. It just hasn't been fully fleshed out, maybe. But all the elements are there.
The second verse in particular to me does not sound like it's anything yet. Ed's just mumbling over the top, which I don't really knock him for; it hadn't been completed yet. But if we start comparing that to Light Years, than I think you do have to be critical of the ways in which it's lesser because it's not done.
I always thought it was a great chorus, it just seemed hidden inside a song that was only half done, if that. And the bridge which stip mentioned to my ears sounds so much better and feels so much more natural in Light Years.
